ANNO REG. 1, ANNO DOM. 1546, 1547. 1. HENRY being dead, Edward, his only surviving son, at the age of nine years, three months, and sixteen days, by the name of King Edward the Sixth, succeeds his father in the throne: Charles the Fifth being then Emperor of Germany and King of Spain; Francis of Angolesme, (the last branch of the royal line of Valoys), King of the French; and Paul the Third (of the noble house of the Farnezi) presiding in the Church of Rome. No sooner was his father dead, FB261 but Edward, Earl of Hartford, and Sir Anthony Browne, Master of the Horse, were by the rest of the council dispatched in haste to Hartford Castle, where at that time he kept his court, accompanied with his sister, the Princess Elizabeth, about four years elder than himself. Both whom they brought the next day as far as Enfield, where they imparted to them the sad news of the King’s decease—received by both with such a measure of true sorrow, that it was very hard to say whether their tears did more obscure or set forth their beauties. The next day advancing towards London, where he was proclaimed King with all due solemnities, he made his royal entry into the Tower on the last of January. FB262 Into which he was conducted by Sir John Gage, as the constable of it, and there received by all the Lords of the Council; who, with great duty and affection, did attend his comings, and waiting on him into the Chamber of Presence, did very cheerfully swear allegiance to him.

FB263 The next day, by the general consent of all the council, the Earl of Hartford, the King’s uncle, was chosen governor of his person and protector of his kingdoms, till he should come unto the age of eighteen years, and was proclaimed for such in all parts of London:—esteemed most fit for this high office, in regard that he was the King’s uncle by the mother’s side; very near unto him in blood, but yet of no capacity to succeed in the crown; by reason whereof, his natural affection and duty was less easy to be over-carried by ambition. FB264 Upon which ground of civil prudence, it was both piously and prudently ordained by Solon, in the state of Athens, “that no man should be made the guardian unto any orphan, to whom the inheritance might fall by the death of his ward.” FB265 For the first handselling of his office, he knighted the young King, on the sixth of February: who, being now in a capacity of conferring that order, bestowed it first on Henry Hobblethorn, Lord Mayor of London, and presently after on Mr. William Portman, one of the justices of the bench,— being both dubbed with the same sword with which he had received the order of knighthood at the hands of his uncle. FB266 2. These first solemnities being thus passed over, the next care was for the interment of the old King, and the coronation of the new. In order to which last, it was thought expedient to advance some confidents and principal ministers of state to higher dignities and titles than before they had; the better to oblige them to a care of the state, the safety of the King’s person, and the preservation of the power of the Lord Protector, who chiefly moved in the design. Yet so far did self-interest prevail above all other obligations and ties of state, that some of these men thus advanced proved his greatest enemies: the rest forsaking him, when he had most need to make use of their friendship. In the first place, having resigned the office of Lord High Chamberlain, he caused himself to be created Lord Seimour, and Duke of Somerset. Which last title,—(appertaining to the King’s progenitors of the house of Lancaster, and, since the expiring of the Beauforts, FB267 conferred on none, but Henry, the natural son of the King deceased,)—was afterwards charged upon him as an argument of his aspiring to the crown; which past all doubt he never aimed at. His own turn being thus unhappily served, the Lord William Parr, brother of Queen Katharine Parr, the relict of the King deceased,—(who formerly, in the thirty-fifth of the said King’s reign, had been created Earl of Essex, with reference to Ann his wife, daughter and heir of Henry Bourchier, the last Earl of Essex of that house,)—was now made Marquess of Northampton, in reference to her extraction from the Bohunes, once the Earls thereof.

FB268 John Dudley, Viscount Lisle, FB269 and Knight of the Garter, having resigned his office of Lord Admiral, to gratify the Lord Protector, (who desired to confer that place of power and trust on his younger brother,) was, in exchange, created Lord High Chamberlain of England, and Earl of Warwick. Which title he affected in regard of his descent from the Beauchamps, who for long time had worn that honor: from whom he also did derive the title of Viscount Lisle; as being the son of Edmond Sutton, alias Dudley, and of Elizabeth his wife, sister and heir of John Gray, Viscount Lisle, descended, FB270 by the Lord John Talbot, Viscount Lisle, from Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, and Dame Elizabeth his wife, the direct heir of Waren Lord Lisle, the last of the male issue of that noble family. In the next place comes Sir Thomas Wriothesley, a man of a very new nobility; as being son of William Wriothesley, and grandchild of John Wriothesley—both of them, in their times, advanced no higher than to the office of an herald; the father by the title of York, the grandfather by that of Garter King of Arms. FB271 But this man, being planted in a warmer sun, grew up so fast in the esteem of King Henry the Eighth, that he was first made Principal Secretary, afterwards created Baron of Tichfield, advanced not long after to the office of Lord Chancellor, and finally, by the said King, installed Knight of the Garter, anno 1545. For an addition to which honors, he was now dignified with the title of the Earl of Southampton, enjoyed to this day by his posterity. FB272 3. These men being thus advanced to the highest titles, Sir Thomas Seimour, the new Lord Admiral, is honored with the style of Lord Seimour of Sudeley, and in the beginning of the next year made Knight of the Garter—prepared by this accumulation of honors for his following marriage; which he had now projected, and soon after compassed. With no less ceremony, though not upon such lofty aims, Sir Richard Rich, (another of the twelve which were appointed for subsidiaries to the great council of estate by the King deceased,) was preferred unto the dignity of Lord Rich of Leez in Essex; the grandfather of that Robert Lord Rich, who by King James was dignified with the title of Earl of Warwick, FB273 anno 1618. In the third place came Sir William Willoughby, descended from a younger branch of the house of Eresby, created Lord Willoughby of Parham in the county of Suffolk. FB274 And in the rear, Sir Edmond Sheffield, advanced unto the title of Lord Sheffield of Butterwick in the county of Lincoln; from whom the Earls of Moulgrave do derive themselves. FB275 All which creations were performed with the accustomed solemnities on the seventeenth of February FB276 and all given out to be designed by King Henry before his death, FB277 the better to take off the envy from the Lord Protector, whom otherwise all understanding people must needs have thought to be too prodigal of those honors, of which the greatest Kings of England had been so sparing. For when great honors are conferred on persons of no great estates, it raiseth commonly a suspicion amongst the people, that either some proportionable revenue must he given them also, to the impoverishing of the King, or else some way left open for them to enrich themselves out of the purses of the subject. 4. These preparations being dispatched, they next proceed unto the coronation of the King, performed with the accustomed rites on the twentieth of the same month by Archbishop Cranmer. The form whereof we find exemplified in a book, called “The Catalogue of Honor,” FB278 published by Thomas Mills of Canterbury, in the year 1610. In which there is nothing more observable, than this following passage. “The King (saith he) being brought unto the church of Saint Peter in Westminster, was placed in the chair of Saint Edward the Confessor, in the midst of a throne seven steps high. This throne was erected near unto the altar, upon a stage arising with steps on both sides, covered with carpets and hangings of arras. Where after the King had rested a little, being by certain noble courtiers carried in another chair unto the four sides of the stage, he was by the Archbishop of Canterbury declared unto the people, standing round about him, both by God’s and man’s laws to be the right and lawful King of England, France, and Ireland, and proclaimed that day to be crowned, consecrated, and anointed. Unto whom he demanded whether they would obey and serve, or not? By whom it was again, with a loud cry, answered, ‘God save the King:’ and, ‘Ever live his Majesty.” FB279 Which passage I the rather note, because it is observed, that, at the coronation of some former Kings, “the Archbishop went to the four squares of the scaffold, and with a loud voice asked the consent of the people.” But this was at such times and in such cases only, when the Kings came unto the crown by disputed titles, for maintenance whereof the favor and consent of the people seemed a matter necessary—(as at the coronations of King Henry the Fourth, or King Richard the Third)—and not when it devolved upon them, as it did upon this King, by a right unquestioned. 5. The coronation was accompanied, as the custom is, with a general pardon. But, as there never was a feast so great from which some men departed not with empty bellies, so, either out of envy, or some former grudge, or for some other cause unknown, six persons were excluded from the taste of this gracious banquet: FB280 that is to say, the Lord Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, a condemned prisoner in the Tower; Edward Lord Courtney, eldest son to the late Marquess of Exeter beheaded in the last times of King Henry the Eighth; FB281 Cardinal Pole, one of the sons of Margaret Countess of Salisbury, proscribed by the same King also; Doctor Richard Pate, declared Bishop of Worcester, in the place of Hierome de Nugaticis, FB282 in the year 1534, and by that name subscribing to some of the first acts of the Council of Trent: who, being sent to Rome on some public employment, chose rather to remain there in perpetual exile than to take the oath of supremacy at his coming home;—as by the laws he must have done, or otherwise have fared no better than the Bishop of Rochester, FB283 who lost his head on the refusal. Of the two others, Fortescue and Throgmorton, I have found nothing but the names; FB284 and thereupon can but name them only. But they all lived to better times:—the Duke of Norfolk being restored by Queen Mary to his lands, liberty, and honors; as the Lord Courtney was to the Earldom of Devonshire, enjoyed by many of his noble progenitors; Cardinal Pole admitted first into the kingdom, in the capacity of a Legate from the Pope of Rome, and after Cranmer’s death advanced to the See of Canterbury; and Dr. Pate preferred unto the actual possession of the See of Worcester, of which he formerly had enjoyed no more but the empty title. 6. These great solemnities being thus passed over, the grandees of the court began to entertain some thoughts of a Reformation; in which they found Archbishop Cranmer and some other Bishops to be as forward as themselves, but on different ends:—endeavored by the Bishops in a pious zeal for rectifying such things as were amiss in God’s public worship: but by the courtiers on an hope to enrich themselves by the spoil of the Bishoprics. To the advancement of which work the conjuncture seemed as proper as they could desire. For, first, the King, being of such tender age, and wholly governed by the will of the Lord Protector, who had declared himself a friend to the Lutheran party in the time of King Henry, was easy to be moulded into any form which the authority of power and reason could imprint upon him. The Lord Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, and Doctor Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, (who formerly had been the greatest sticklers at the council-table in maintenance of the religion of the Church of Rome), were not long able to support it:—the one of them being a condemned prisoner in the Tower, as before was said; and the other, upon some just displeasure, not named by King Henry amongst the counselors of state, who were to have the managing of affairs in his son’s minority. FB285 Bonner, then Bishop of London, was absent at that time in the court of the Emperor, to whom he had been sent Ambassador by the former King. And no professed champion for the Papacy remained amongst them, of whom they had cause to stand in doubt, but the new Earl of Southampton; whom, when they were not able to remove from his old opinions, it was resolved to make him less both in power and credit, so that he should not be able to hinder the pursuit of those counsels which he was not willing to promote. And therefore, on the sixth of March, the great seal was taken from him by the King’s command, and for a while committed to the custody of Sir William Pawlet, FB286 created Lord St John of Basing and made Great Master of the Household by King Henry the Eighth. 7. And on the other side it was thought expedient, for the better carrying on of the design, not only to release all such as had been committed unto prison, but also to recall all such as had been forced to abandon the kingdom for not submitting to the superstitions and corruptions of the Church of Rome. Great were the numbers of the first, who had their fetters strucken off by this merciful Prince, and were permitted to enjoy that liberty of conscience for which they had suffered all extremities in his father’s time. Only it is observed of one Thomas Dobbs, once Fellow of St.

John’s College, in Cambridge,—condemned for speaking against the mass, and thereupon committed to the Counter in Bread Street,—that he alone did take a view of this land of Canaan, into which he was not suffered to enter; it being so ordered by the Divine Providence that he died in prison, before his pardon could be signed by the Lord Protector. FB287 Amongst the rest, which were in number very many, those of chief note were, Doctor Miles Coverdale, after Bishop of Exeter; Mr. John Hooper, after Bishop of Glocester; Mr. John Philpot, after Archdeacon of Winchester; Mr. John Rogers, after one of the Prebends of St. Paul’s; and many others, eminent for their zeal and piety, which they declared by preferring a good conscience before their lives, in the time of Queen Mary. FB288 8. But the business was of greater moment than to expect the coming back of the learned men; who, though they came not time enough to begin the work, yet did they prove exceeding serviceable in the furtherance of it. And therefore, neither to lose time, nor to press too much at once upon the people, it was thought fit to smooth the way to the intended Reformation, by setting out some preparatory Injunctions; such as the King might publish by his own authority, according to the example of his royal father in the year 1536, and at some times after. FB289 This to be done by sending out Commissioners into all parts of the kingdom, armed with instructions to inquire into all ecclesiastical concerments, in the manner of a Visitation; directed by the King, as supreme head on earth of the Church of England.

FB290 Which Commissioners, being distributed into several circuits, were accompanied with certain learned and godly preachers, appointed to instruct the people, and to facilitate the work of the Commissioners, in all towns and places where they sat. And, that the people might not cool or fall off again, in and from that which had been taught them by the learned preachers, they were to leave some Homilies FB291 to the same effect with the parish-priest: which the Archbishop had composed, not only for the help of unpreaching ministers, but for the regulating and instructing even of learned preachers.

Which Injunctions being agreed upon by such of the great council as favored the design of the Reformation; and the Commissions drawn in due form of law by the council learned:—they were all tendered to the Lord Chancellor Wriothesley, that the authority of the great seal might be added to them. Which he, who was not to be told what these matters aimed at, refused to give consent unto; and so lost the seal, FB292 —committed, (as before is said), to the custody of the Lord Great Master, by whom the said Commissioners were dispatched, and the visitors thereby authorized in due form of law. And here it is to be observed, that, besides the points contained in the said Injunctions, the preachers above mentioned were more particularly instructed to persuade the people from praying to the saints, from making prayers for the dead, from adoring of images, from the use of beads, ashes, and processions, from mass, diriges, praying in unknown languages, and from some other such-like things, whereunto long custom had brought a religious observation. FB293 All which was done to this intent; that the people in all places, being prepared by little and little, might with more ease, and less opposition, admit the total alteration in the face of the Church, which was intended in due time to be introduced. 9. Now, as for the Injunctions above mentioned, although I might exemplify them as they stand at large in the first edition of the Acts and Monuments (fol. 684), FB294 yet I shall choose rather to present them in a smoother abstract, as it is done unto my hand by the Church-historian: FB295 the method of them only altered in this manner following: 1. That all ecclesiastical persons observe, and cause to be observed, the laws for the abolishing the pretended and usurped power of the Bishop of Rome, and confirmation of the King’s authority and supremacy: and four times in the year, at the least, that they teach the people, that the one was now justly taken away, according to the Word of God, and that the other was, of most legal duty, only to be obeyed by all the subjects. 2. That once a quarter, at the least, they sincerely declare the Word of God, dissuading the people from superstitious fancies of pilgrimages, praying to images, etc., exhorting them to the works of faith, mercy, and charity. 3. And that images, abused with pilgrimages and offerings thereunto, be forthwith taken down and destroyed, and that no more wax-candles or tapers be burnt before any image; but only two lights upon the high altar, before the Sacrament, shall remain still, to signify that Christ is the very Light of the world. 4. That every holy-day, when they have no sermon, the Pater-Noster, Credo, and Ten Commandments shall be plainly recited in the pulpit to the parishioners. 5. And that parents and masters bestow their children and servants either to learning or some honest occupation. 7. That, within three months after this Visitation, the Bible, of the larger FB296 volume, in English; and within twelve months Erasmus his Paraphrases on the Gospels, be provided, and conveniently placed in the church, for the people to read therein. 20. And that every ecclesiastical person, under the degree of a Bachelor of Divinity, shall, within three months after this Visitation, provide of his own the New Testament in Latin and English, with Erasmus his Paraphrases thereon.

And that Bishops, by themselves and their officers, shall examine them how much they have profited in the study of holy Scripture. 6. That such who, in cases expressed in the statute, are absent from their benefices, leave learned and expert curates to supply their places. 14. That all such ecclesiastical persons, not resident upon their benefices, and able to dispend yearly pounds L20, and above, shall, in the presence of the Church-wardens or some other honest men, distribute the fortieth part of their revenues amongst the poor of the parish. 15. And that every ecclesiastical person shall give competent exhibition to so many scholars in one of the universities, as they have hundred pounds a-year in church-promotions. 16. That a fifth part of their benefices be bestowed on their mansionhouses or chancels, till they be fully repaired. 8. And that no ecclesiastical persons haunt ale-houses, or taverns, or any place of unlawful gaming. 9. That they examine such as come to confession in Lent, whether they can recite their Credo, Pater-Noster, and Ten Commandments in English, before they receive the blessed Sacrament of the altar; or else they ought not to presume to come to God’s board. 10. That none be admitted to preach, except sufficiently licensed. FB297 11. That, if they have heretofore extolled pilgrimages, reliques, worshipping of images, etc. FB298 they now openly recant, and reprove the same, as a common error, groundless in Scripture. 12. That they detect and present such who are letters of the Word of God in English, and fautors of the Bishop of Rome his pretended power. 19. That no person from henceforth shall alter any fasting-day, or manner of Common Prayer, or Divine Service, (otherwise than is specified in these Injunctions), until otherwise ordered by the King’s authority. 21. And that, in the time of high mass, he that sayeth or singeth the same FB299 shall read the Epistle and Gospel in English, and one chapter in the New Testament at Matins, and another at Evensong; FB300 and that, when nine lessons are to be read in the church, three of them shall be omitted, with responds; and at the Even-song, the responds with all the memories. FB301 By which last word I understand the anniversary commemoration of deceased persons on the day of their deaths, which frequently were expressed by the name Obits. 26. That every Dean, Archdeacon, etc. being a priest, preach by himself, personally, [twice] every year at least. 27. That they instruct their people not obstinately to violate the ceremonies of the Church, by the King commanded to be observed, and not as yet abrogated; and, on the other side, that whosoever doth superstitiously abuse them, doth the same to the great peril of his soul’s health. 25. And that no curate admit to the Communion such who are in rancor and malice with their neighbors, till such controversies be reconciled. 23. That, to avoid contentions and strife which heretofore have risen amongst the King’s subjects, by challenging of places in procession, no procession hereafter be used about the church, or churchyard: but immediately before high mass, the Litany shall be distinctly sung or said in English; none departing the church without just cause, FB302 and all ringing of bells (save one) utterly forborne. 28. That they take away and destroy all shrines, covering of shrines, tables, candlesticks, trindils, and rolls of wax, pictures, paintings, and other monuments of reigned miracles, so that no memory of them remain in walls or windows; exhorting their parishioners to do the like in their several houses. 24. That the holy-day, at the first beginning godly instituted and ordained, be wholly given to God, in hearing the Word of God read and taught, in private and public prayers, in acknowledging their offenses to God, and amendment, in reconciling themselves to their neighbors, receiving the Communion, visiting the sick, etc. Only it shall be lawful for them, in time of harvest, to labor upon holy and festival days, FB303 and save that thing which God hath sent; and that scrupulosity, to abstain from working upon those days, doth grievously offend God. 13. That a register-book be carefully kept in every parish for weddings, christenings, and burials. 29. That a strong chest, with an hole in the upper part thereof, (with three keys thereunto belonging), be provided to receive the charity of the people to the poor; and the same, at convenient times, be distributed unto them in the presence of the parish. And that a comely pulpit be provided, in a convenient place.

FB304 32. That, because of the lack of preachers, FB305 curates shall read homilies, which are or shall be set forth by the King’s authority. 36.

That, when any such sermon or homily shall be had, the primes and hours shall be omitted. 18. That none bound to pay tithes detain them, by color of duty omitted by their curates, and so redoub one wrong with another. 33. And whereas many indiscreet persons do uncharitably contemn FB306 and abuse priests having small learning, his Majesty chargeth his subjects, that from henceforth they be reverently used, for their office and ministration sake. 31. And that, to avoid the detestable sin of simony, the seller shall lose his right of patronage for that time, and the buyer to be deprived, and made unable to receive spiritual promotion. 22. That, to prevent sick persons in the damnable vice of despair, they shall learn, and have always in readiness, such comfortable places and sentences of Scripture as do set forth the mercies, benefits, and goodness of God Almighty towards all penitent and believing persons. 30. But that priests be not bound to go visit women in child-bed, except in times of dangerous sickness; and not to fetch any corse, except it be brought to the churchyard. FB307 34. That all persons not understanding Latin, shall pray on no other primer but what lately was set forth in English by King Henry the Eighth; and that such, who have knowledge in the Latin use no other also; FB308 that all graces before and after meat be said in English; and no grammar taught in schools, but that which is set forth by authority. FB309 35. That chantry-priests teach youth to read and write. 17. And finally, that these Injunctions be read once a quarter. 10. Besides these general Injunctions for the whole estate of the realm, there were also certain others, particularly appointed for the Bishops only; FB310 which, being delivered unto the Commissioners, were likewise by them in their Visitations committed unto the said Bishops, with charge to be inviolably observed and kept, upon pain of the King’s majesty’s displeasure: the effect whereof is as in manner followeth: (1) That they should, to the utmost of their power, wit, and understanding, see and cause all and singular the King’s Injunctions, heretofore given, or after to be given, from time to time, in and through their diocese, duly, faithfully, and truly to be kept, observed, and accomplished. And that they should personally preach within their diocese, every quarter of a year, once at the least: that is to say, once in their cathedral churches, and thrice in other several places of their dioceses, whereas they should see it most convenient and necessary; except they had a reasonable excuse to the contrary. Likewise, that they should not retain into their service or household, any chaplain, but such as were learned, and able to preach the Word of God, and those they should also cause to exercise the same. (2) And secondly, that they should not give orders to any person but such as were learned in holy Scripture: neither should deny them to such as were learned in the same, being of honest conversation or living. And, lastly, that they should not at any time or place preach or set forth unto the people any doctrine contrary or repugnant to the effect and intent contained or set forth in the King’s highness’s Homilies: neither yet should admit or give license to preach to any within their diocese, but to such as they should know (or at least assuredly trust) would do the same: and, if at any time, by hearing or by report proved, they should perceive the contrary; they should then incontinent not only inhibit that person so offending, but also punish him, and revoke their license. 11. There was also a form of Bidding Prayer FB311 prescribed by the Visitors, to be used by all preachers in the realm, either before or in their sermons, as to them seemed best. Which form of Bidding Prayer (or Bidding of the Beads, as it was then commonly called) was this, that followeth: “You shall pray for the whole congregation of Christ’s Church, and specially for this Church of England and Ireland: wherein first I commend to your devout prayers the King’s most excellent majesty, supreme head immediately under God of the spirituality and temporality of the same Church: and for Queen Catharine, dowager, and also for my lady Mary and my lady Elizabeth, the King’s sisters. “Secondly, you shall pray for my Lord Protector’s grace, with all the rest of the King’s majesty his council; for all the lords of this FB312 realm, and for the clergy and for the commons of the same: beseeching God Almighty to give every of them, in his degree, grace to use themselves in such wise as may be to God’s glory, the King’s honor, and the weal of this realm. “Thirdly, you shall pray for all them that be departed out of this world in the faith of Christ; that they with us, and we with them, at the day of judgment, may rest, both body and soul, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.” 12. Such were the Orders and Injunctions wherewith the King’s Commissioners were furnished for their Visitation—most of them such as had been formerly given out by Cromwell, or otherwise published and pursued, (but not without some intermissions), by the King deceased, and therefore to be put in execution with greater safety. For though the young King, by reason of his tender age, could not but want a great proportion of his father’s spirit for carrying on a work of such weight and moment, yet he wanted nothing of that power in church-concernment, which either naturally was inherent in the crown imperial, or had been legally vested in it by acts of parliament. Neither could his being in minority, nor the writings in his name by the Lord Protector and the rest of the council, make any such difference in the case, as to invalidate the proceedings, or any of the rest which followed in the Reformation. For, if they did, the objection would be altogether as strong against the reformation made in the minority of King Josias, as against this, in the minority of the present King: that of Josias being made, (as Josephus FB313 telleth us), by the advice of the elders; as this of King Edward the Sixth by the advice of the council. And yet it cannot be denied, but that the reformation made under King Josias, by advice of his council, was no less pleasing unto God, nor less valid in the eyes of all his subjects, than those of Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah, in their riper years; who perhaps acted singly on the strength of their own judgments only, without any advice. Now of Josias we are told by the said historian, that, “when he grew to be twelve years old, he gave manifest approbation of his piety and justice. For he drew the people to a comfortable course of life, and to the detestation and abolishing of idols, that were no gods, and to the service of the only true God of their forefathers. And, considering the actions of his predecessors, he began to rectify them in that wherein they were deficient, with no less circumspection than if he had been an old man; and that which he found to be correspondent, and advisedly done by them, that did he both maintain and imitate. All which things he did, both by reason of his innated wisdom, as also by the admonishment and counsel of his elders, in following orderly the laws, not only in matters of religion, but also of civil polity.” Which puts the parallel betwixt the two young Kings, in the case before us, above all exception; and the proceedings of King Edward, or his council rather, beyond all dispute. 13. Now, whereas question hath been made, FB314 whether the twentyfourth Injunction, for laboring on the holy-day in time of harvest, extends as well to the Lord’s day, as the annual’ festivals;—the matter seems, to any well-discerning eye, to be out of question. For in the third chapter of the statute made in the fifth and sixth years of King Edward the Sixth, (when the Reformation was much more advanced than it was at the present), the names and number of such holy-days as were to be observed in this Church, are thus laid down: “That is to say, all Sundays in the year, the feasts of the Circumcision of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Epiphany, etc.” with all the rest, still kept, and there named particularly. And then it followeth in the act, “That it shall, and may, be lawful for every husbandman, laborer, fisherman, and to all and every other person or persons, of what estate, degree, or condition he or they be, upon the holydays aforesaid, in harvest, or at any other time in the year, when necessity shall so require, to labor, ride, fish, or work any kind of work, at their free will and pleasure, any thing in this act to the contrary, notwithstanding.”

FB315 The law being such, there is no question to be made in point of practice, nor consequently of the meaning of the King’s Injunction. For further opening of which truth we find, that not the country only, but the court were indulged the liberty of attending business on that day; it being ordered by the King, amongst other things, “That the Lords of the Council should upon Sundays attend the public affairs of this realm, dispatch answers to letters for good order of state, and make full dispatches of all things concluded the week before: provided always, that they be present at Common Prayer, and that on every Sunday night the King’s Secretary should deliver him a memorial of such things as are to be debated by the Privy Council in the week ensuing.” Which order, being compared with the words of the statute, may serve sufficiently to satisfy all doubts and scruples touching the true intent and meaning of the said Injunction. FB316 14. But, as this question was not started till the later times, when the Lord’s day began to be advanced into the reputation of the Jewish sabbath; so was there nothing in the rest of the said Injunctions, which required a commentary—some words and passages therein, which seem absurd to us of this present age, being then dearly understood by all and every one whom they did concern: published and given in charge by the Commissioners in their several circuits, with great zeal and cheerfullness; and no less readily obeyed in most parts of the realms, both by priests and people, who observed nothing in them either new or strange, to which they had not been prepared in the reign of the King deceased. None forwarder in this compliance than some learned men in and about the city of London, who not long since had shewed themselves of a contrary judgment:—some of them running before authority, and others keeping even pace with it, but few so confident of themselves as to lag behind. It was ordered in the twenty-first—“That, at the time of high mass, the Epistle and Gospel should be read in the English tongue:” and, “That both at the Matins, and Even-song, a chapter out of the New Testament FB317 should be also read.”

And, for example to the rest of the land, the compline, being a part of the Evening Service, was sung in the King’s chapel on Monday in the Easterweek, (then falling on the eleventh of April), in the English tongue. FB318 Doctor Smith, Master of Whittington College in London, and Reader in Divinity at the King’s College at Oxford, (afterwards better known by the name of Christchurch), had before published two books:—one of them written in defense of the mass, the other endeavoring to prove, that unwritten verities ought to be believed under pain of damnation. But, finding that these doctrines did not now beat according to the pulse of the times, he did voluntarily retract the said opinions; declaring in a sermon at St. Paul’s Cross, on Sunday the fifteenth of May, that his said former books and teachings were not only erroneous, but heretical. FB319 The like was done in the month next following by Doctor Pern, afterwards Master of Peter-House in Cambridge; who, having on St. George’s day delivered, in the parish-church of Saint Andrew Undershaft, for sound catholic doctrine, “That the pictures of Christ, and of the saints were to be adored,” upon the seventeenth day of June declared himself, in the said church, to have been deceived in that, what he before had taught them, and to be sorry for delivering such doctrine to them. FB320 But these men might pretend some warrant from the King’s Injunctions, which they might conceive it neither fit nor safe to oppose: and therefore, that it was the wisest way to strike sail betimes, upon the shooting of the first warningpiece to bring them in. But no man was so much beforehand with authority as one Doctor Glasier; who, as soon as the fast of Lent was over,—(and it was well he had the patience to stay so long),—affirmed publicly in a sermon at St. Paul’s Cross, that “the Lent was not ordained of God to be fasted, neither the eating of flesh to be forborne; but that the same was a politic ordinance of men, and might therefore be broken by men at their pleasure.” FB321 For which doctrine as the preacher was never questioned,—the temper of the times giving encouragement enough to such extravagancies,—so did it open such a gap to carnal liberty, that the King found it necessary to shut it up again by a proclamation on the sixteenth of January, commanding abstinence from all flesh, for the Lent then following. FB322 15. But there was something more than the authority of a minor King, which drew on such a general conformity to these Injunctions, and thereby smoothed the way of those alterations, both in doctrine and worship, which the grandees of the court and Church had began to fashion. The Lord Protector and his party were more experienced in affairs of state than to be told that all great counsels tending to innovation in the public government, (especially where religion is concerned therein), are either to be backed by arms, or otherwise prove destructive to the undertakers. FB323 For this cause, he resolves to put himself into the head of an army; as well for the security of his person and the preservation of his party, as for the carrying on of the design against all opponents. And for the raising of an army there could not be a fairer color, nor a more popular pretense, than a war in Scotland; FB324 not to be made on any new emergent quarrel,—which might be apt to breed suspicion in the heads of the people,—but in pursuit of the great project of the King deceased, for uniting that realm, (by the marriage of their young Queen to his only son), to the crown of England. On this pretense levies are made in all parts of the kingdom, great store of arms and ammunition drawn together to advance the service, considerable numbers of old soldiers brought over from Bulloign and the pieces which depend on it, and good provision made of shipping, to attend the motions of the army upon all occasions. He entertained also certain regiments of Walloons and Germans: not out of any great opinion which he had of their valor, (though otherwise of good experience in the wars), but because they were conceived more likely to enforce obedience, (if his designs should meet with any opposition), than the natural English. 16. But in the first place, care was taken that none of the neighboring Princes should either hinder his proceedings, or assist the enemy. To which end Doctor Wotton, the first Dean of Canterbury, then resident with the Queen dowager of Hungary, (who at that time was Regent of the Estates of Flanders for Charles the Fifth) was despatched unto the Emperor’s court, there to succeed in the place of Doctor Bonner, Bishop of London; who, together with Sir Francis Bryan, had formerly been sent Ambassadors thither from King Henry the Eighth. The principal part of his employment, besides such matters as are incident to all ambassadors, was to divert the Emperor from concluding any league with France, contrary to the capitulations made between the Emperor and the King deceased; but to deal with him, above all things, for declaring himself an enemy to all of the Scottish nation but such as should be friends to the King of England. FB325 17. And, because some remainders of hostility did still remain between the English and the French, (notwithstanding the late peace made between the crowns), it was thought fit to sweeten and oblige that people by all the acts of correspondence and friendly neighborhood. In order whereunto it was commanded by the King’s proclamation, that restitution should be made of such ships and goods which had been taken from the French since the death of King Henry. Which being done also by the French,—though far short in the value of such reprisals as had been taken by the English,— there was good hope of coming to a better understanding of one another: and that, by this cessation of arms, both Kings might come in short time to a further agreement. But that which seemed to give most satisfaction to the court of France, was the perform-ante of a solemn obsequy for King Francis the First; who left this life on the twenty-second day of March, FB326 and was magnificently inferred amongst his predecessors, in the monastery of St. Denis, not far from Paris. Whose funerals were no sooner solemnized in France, but order was given for a Dirige to be sung in all the churches in London on the nineteenth of June, as also in the cathedral church of St. Paul; in the quire whereof, being hung with black, a sumptuous hearse had been set up for the present ceremony. For the next day the Archbishop of Canterbury, assisted with eight other of the Bishops, all in their rich mitres, and other their pontificals, did sing a mass of Requiem; the funeral sermon being preached by Doctor Ridley, Lord elect of Rochester: FB327 who, if he did his part therein, as no doubt he did, could not but magnify the Prince for his love to learning, which was so great and eminent in him, that he was called by the French, L’ Pere des Arts et des Sciences, and “The Father of the Muses” by some writers of other nations.

Which attributes as he well deserved, so did he sympathize in that affection, (as he did in many other things), with King Henry the Eighth: of whose munificence for the encouragements of learning we have spoke before. 18. This great solemnity being thus honorably performed, the Commissioners for the Visitation were despatched to their several circuits, and the army drawn from all parts to their rendezvous, for the war with Scotland. Of which two actions, that of the Visitation, as the easiest, and meeting with a people which had been long trained up in the school of obedience, was carried on without any shew of opposition; submitted to upon a very small dispute, even by some of those Bishops who were conceived most likely to have disturbed the business. The first who declared his averseness to the King’s proceedings, was Dr. Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester: who, stomaching his being left out of the list of the council, appeared more cross to all their doings than other of his order. For which being brought before their Lordships, and not giving them such satisfaction as they looked for from him, they sent him prisoner to the Fleet; FB328 where he remained from the twenty-fifth of September till the seventh of January, the King’s Commissioners proceeding in the meantime without any disturbance. 19. With less averseness, but with success not much unlike, was the business entertained by Dr. Edmond Bonner, then Bishop of London: whom the Commissioners found more tractable than could have been expected from a man of so rough a nature, and one so cordially affected to the Church of Rome. The Commissioners authorized for this employment were, Sir Anthony Cook, and Sir John Godsal, Knights, John Godsal, and Christopher Nevinson, Doctors of the Laws; and John Madew, Doctor in Divinity: who, sitting in St. Paul’s church on the first day of September, FB329 called before them the said Bishop Bonner, John Royston, the renowned Polydore Virgil, FB330 and many other the dignitaries of the said cathedral: to whom, the sermon being done, and their Commission openly read, they ministered the oath of the King’s supremacy, according to the statutes of the thirty-first of Henry the Eighth; requiring them withal to present such things as stood in need to be reformed. Which done, they delivered to him a copy of the said Injunctions, together with the Homilies set forth by the King’s authority; received by him with protestation, that he would observe them, if they were not contrary to the law of God, and the statutes and ordinances of the Church. Which protestation he desired might be enrolled among the acts of the court. But afterwards, considering better with himself, as well of his own danger, as of the scandal and ill consequents which might thence arise, he addressed himself unto the King, revoking his said protestation, and humbly submitting himself to his Majesty’s pleasure, in this manner following: “Whereas I, Edmond Bishop of London, at such time as I received the King’s Majesty’s Injunctions and Homilies of my most dread and sovereign Lord, at the hands of his Highness’ Visitors, did unadvisedly make such protestation, as now, upon better consideration of my duty of obedience, and of the evil example that might ensue unto others thereof, appeareth to me neither reasonable, nor such as might well stand with the duty of a most humble subject: forasmuch as the same protestation, at my request, was then by the Registrar FB331 of the visitation enacted, and put in record: I have thought it my duty, not only to declare before your Lordships, that I do now, upon better consideration of my duty, renounce and revoke my said protestation; but also most humbly [to] beseech your Lordships, that this my revocation of the same may be in likewise put in the same records, for a perpetual memory of the truth: most humbly beseeching your good Lordships, both to take order that it may take effect, and also that my former unadvised doings may be by your good mediations pardoned of the King’s Majesty. “EDMOND LONDON .” FB332 20. This humble carriage of the Bishop so wrought upon the King and the Lords of the Council, that the edge of their displeasure was taken off: though for a terror unto others, and for the preservation of their own authority, he was by them committed prisoner to the Fleet. FB333 During the short time of whose restraint, (that is to say on the eighteenth day of the same month of September), the Litany was sung in the English tongue in St Paul’s church, between the quire and the high altar; the singers kneeling half on the one side, and half on the other. And the same day the Epistle and Gospel was also read at the high mass in the English tongue. FB334 And about two months after, (that is to say, on the seventeenth day of November, next following), Bishop Bonner being then restored to his former liberty, the image of Christ, best known in those times by the name of the Rood, together with the images of Mary and John, and all other images in that church, as also in all the other churches of London, were taken down, as was commanded by the said Injunctions. FB335 Concerning which we are to note, that, though the parliament was then sitting, (whereof more anon), yet the Commissioners proceeded only by the King’s authority, without relating any thing to that high court in this weighty business. And in the speeding of this work, as Bishop Bonner, together with the Dean and Chapter, did perform their parts in the cathedral of St.

Paul: so Bellassere, FB336 Archdeacon of Colchester, and Doctor Gilbert Bourn,—(being at that time Archdeacon both of London and Essex, FB337 but afterwards preferred by Queen Mary to the Bishopric of Bath and Wells),—were no less diligent and officious in doing the like in all the churches of their respective jurisdictions, according to the charge imposed upon them by his Majesty’s Visitors. 21. In the meantime, whilst matters were thus calmly acted on the stage of England, all things went no less fortunately forward with the Lord Protector in his war with Scotland: in which he carried himself with no less courage and success, when it came to blows, than he had done with Christian prudence, before he put himself on the expedition. For, having taken order for his forces to be drawn together, he thought it most expedient to his affairs to gain the start in point of reputation with his very enemies, by not engaging in a war until they had refused all terms of peace.

And to this end a manifest is despatched unto them, declaring the motives which induced him to put this kingdom into a posture of arms. In which he remembered them of the promises, seals, and oaths, which by public authority had passed for concluding this marriage: that these, being religious bonds betwixt God and their souls, could not by any politic act of state be dissolved, until their Queen should attain unto years of dissent.”

Adding, that “the providence of God did therein manifestly declare itself, in that, the male Princes of Scotland failing, the kingdom was left unto a daughter; and in that Henry left only one son to succeed: that these two Princes were agreeable, both for yearn and princely qualities, to be joined in marriage, and thereby to knit both realms into one: that this union, as it was like to be both easily done and of firm continuance, so would it be both profitable and honorable to both the realms: that both the easiness and firmness might be conjectured, for that both people are of the same language, of like habit and fashion, of like quality and condition of life, of one climate; not only annexed entirely together, but severed from all the world besides: that, as these are sure arguments that both descended from one original, so, (by reason that likeness is a great cause of liking and love), they would be most forcible means both to join and hold them in one body again: that profit would rise by extinguishing wars between the two nations; by reason whereof, in former times, victories abroad have been impeached, invasions and seditions occasioned, the confines of both realms laid waste, or else made a nursery of rapines, robberies, and murders; the inner parts often deeply pierced, and made a wretched spectacle to all eyes of humanity and pity: that the honor of both realms would increase, as well in regard of the countries,—sufficient not only to furnish the necessities, but the moderate pleasures of this life,—as also of the people, great in multitude, in body able, assured in mind; not only for the safety, but the glory of the common state: that hereby would follow assurance of defense, strength to enterprise, ease in sustaining public burdens and charges: that herein the English desired no pre-eminence, but offered equality, both in liberty and privilege, and in capacity of offices and employments; and, to that end, the name of Britain FB338 should be assumed, indifferent to both nations: that this would be the complishment of their common felicity, in case, (by their evil, either destiny, or advice), they suffered not the occasion to be lost.” FB339 22. It was no hard matter to foresee that either the Scots would return no answer to this declaration, or such an answer, at the best, as should signify nothing. So that the war began to open, and some hostilities to be exercised on either side, before the English forces could be drawn together.

For so it happened, that a small ship of the King’s, called the Pensie, FB340 hovering at sea, was assailed by the Lion, a principal ship of Scotland. The fight began afar off, and slow; but when they approached, it grew very furious: wherein the Pensi so applied her shot, that therewith the Lion’s ore-loop was broken, her sails and tacklings torn, and lastly, she was boarded, and taken. But, as she was brought for England, she was cast away by negligence and tempest near Harwich haven, and most of her men perished with her. Which small adventure (as Sir John Hayward FB341 well observes) seemed to prognosticate the success of the war: in which the English, with a small army, gained a glorious victory, but were deprived of the fruit and benefits of it by the storms at home. 23. All thoughts of peace being laid aside, the army draws together at Newcastle, about the middle of August, FB342 consisting of twelve or thirteen thousand foot, thirteen hundred men-at-arms, and two thousand eight hundred light horse:—both men and horse so well appointed, that a like army never shewed itself before that time on the borders of Scotland.

Over which army, so appointed, the Lord Protector held the office of General; the Earl of Warwick that of Lieutenant General; the Lord Gray, FB343 General of the horse, and Marshal also of the field; Sir Ralph Vane, Lieutenant of all the men-at-arms and demi-lances; and Sir Ralph Sadlier, Treasurer General for the wars: inferior offices being distributed amongst other gentlemen of name and quality, according to their well deservings. At Newcastle they remained till the fleet arrived, consisting of sixty-five bottoms: whereof one galley and thirty-four tall ships were well appointed for fight; the residue served for carriage of munition and victuals: the Admiral of this fleet being Edward Lord Clynton, created afterwards Earl of Lincoln, on the fourth of May, 1572, in the fourteenth year of Queen Elizabeth. Making some little stay at Berwick, they entered not on Scottish ground till the third of September; FB344 keeping their march along the shore, within sight of the fleet, that they might be both aided and relieved by it, as occasion served: and, making all along the shore, they fell, at the end of two days, into a valley called the Peathes, containing six miles in length, in breadth about four hundred paces toward the sea, and but one hundred toward the land, where it was shut up by a river. FB345 The issues out of it made into several paths, which the Scots had caused to be cut in divers places with traverse trenches: and thereby so encumbered the army in their marching forwards, till the pioneers had smoothed the way, that a small power of the enemy, (if their fortune had been answerable to the opportunity), might have given a very good account of them to the rest of their nation. Which difficulty being overcome, and a passage thereby given them unto places of more advantage, they made themselves masters of the three next castles, for making good of their retreat, if the worst should happen. 24. Upon the first news of these approaches,—enlarged, (as the custom is), by the voice of fame,—the Earl of Arran, being then Lord Governor of Scotland, was not meanly startled; as being neither furnished with foreign aid, nor much relying on the forces which he had at home. FB346 Yet resuming his accustomed courage, and well acquainted with both fortunes, he sent his heralds through all parts of the realm, commanded the firecross, (that is to say, two firebrands, set in fashion of a cross, and pitched upon the point of a spear), to be advanced in the field, (according to the ancient custom of that country in important cases), and therewithal caused proclamation to be made, that all persons, from sixteen years of age to sixty, should repair to Muscleborough, and bring their ordinary provision of victuals with them. FB347 Which proclamation being made, and the danger in which the kingdom stood represented to them, the people flocked in such multitudes to their rendezvous, that it was thought fit to make choice of such as were most serviceable, and dismiss the rest. Out of which they compounded an army, (the nobility and gentry, with their followers being reckoned in), consisting of thirty thousand foot, and two thousand horse: but poorly armed, fitter to make excursions, or to execute some sudden inroad, than to entertain any strong charge from so brave an army. 25. The armies drawing near together, the General and the Earl of Warwick rode towards the place where the Scottish army lay, to view the manner of their encamping. FB348 As they were returning, an herald and a trumpeter from the Scots overtook them; and, having obtained audience, thus the herald began: that, “he was sent from the Lord Governor of Scotland, partly to inquire of prisoners, but chiefly to make offer, that,— because he was desirous, not only to avoid profusion, but the least effusion of Christian blood; and for that the English had not done any unmanlike outrage or spoil,—he was content they might return, and should have his safe conduct for their peaceable passage.” Which said, the trumpeter spake as followeth: that “the Lord Huntley, his master, sent message by him,— that, as well for brief expedition, as to spare expense of Christian blood, he would fight upon the whole quarrel, either with twenty against twenty, or with ten against ten, or, more particularly, by single combat between the Lord General and himself: which,—in regard the Scots had advantage, both for number, and freshness of men; in regard also that for supply, both for provision and succors, they were at home,—he esteemed an honorable and charitable offer.”

To the herald the Lord General returned this answer—that, “as his coming was not with purpose or desire to endamage their realm;—as he was there, he would neither entreat nor accept of him leave to depart, but would measure his marches in advancing or retiring, as his own judgment, guided by advice of his council, should deem expedient.”

To the trumpeter he returned this answer—that “the Lord Huntley, his master, was a young gentleman full of free courage, but more desirous of glory than judicious, (as it seemed), how to win it: that for a number of combatants, it was not in his power to conclude a bargain, but he was to employ all the forces put under his charge to the best advantage that he could: that in case this were a particular quarrel between the Governor and him, he would not refuse a particular combat; but, being a difference between the two kingdoms, it was neither fit, nor in his power, either to undertake the adventure upon his own fortune, or, bearing a public charge, to hazard himself against a man of private condition.” Which said, and the Earl of Warwick offering to take upon himself the answer to Huntley’s challenge, the Lord Protector interposed, and, turning again unto the herald—“Herald,” (saith he), “tell the Lord Governor and the Lord Huntley, that we have entered your country with a sober company” (which in the language of the Scots, is poor and mean:) “your army is both great and fresh; but let them appear upon indifferent ground, and assuredly they shall have fighting enough. And bring me word that they will so do, and I will reward thee with a thousand crowns.” FB349 26. These braveries thus passed over on either side, the Lord Protector, wisely considering with himself the uncertain issue of pitched fields, and minding to preserve his army for some other purposes, thought fit to tempt the Scots, by another missive, to yield unto his just demands. In which he wished them to consider FB350 — That “this war was waged amongst Christians; and that our ends were no other than a just peace, whereto the endeavors of all good men should tend: that an occasion not only of a league, but of a perpetual peace, was now happily offered, if they would suffer the two differing and emulous nations, by uniting the heads FB351 to grow together: that, as this had formerly been sought by us, so it had been generally assented to by the estates of Scotland; that, therefore, he could not but wonder why they should rather treacherously recur to arms—(the events of war being usually, even to the victor, sufficiently unfortunate)—than FB352 maintain inviolate their troth plighted to the good of both nations: that they could not in reason expect that their Queen should perpetually live a virgin life; that, if she married, where could she bestow herself better than on a puissant monarch, inhabiting the same island, and speaking the same language? that they could not choose but see what inconveniences were the consequents of foreign matches; whereof they should rather make trial by the examples of others, than at their own peril: that, though he demanded nothing but equity, yet he so far abhorred the effusion of Christian blood, that, if he found the Scots not utterly averse from an accord, he would endeavor that some of the conventions FB353 should be remitted: that he would also consent that the Queen should abide and be brought up amongst them, until her age made her marriageable; at what time she should, by the consent of the estates, herself make choice of an husband: that in the meantime there should be a cessation of arms, neither should the Queen be transported out of her realm, nor entertain treaty of marriage with the French, nor any other foreigner: that, if this they would faithfully promise, he would forthwith peaceably depart out of Scotland; and that, whatsoever damages the country had suffered by this invasion, he would, according to the esteem of indifferent arbitrators, make ample satisfaction.” 27. What effect this letter might have produced, if the contents thereof had been communicated to the generality of the Scottish army, it is hard to say.

Certain it is, that those who had the conduct of the Scots’ affairs, (as if they had been totally carried on to their own destruction,) resolved not to put it to the venture: but, on the contrary, caused it to be noised abroad that “nothing would content the English but to have the young Queen at their disposal, and, under color of a marriage, to subdue the kingdom; which was to be reduced for ever to the form of a province.” FB354 This false report did so exasperate all sorts of people, that they were instant for the fight. Which was as cheerfully accepted by the chief commanders of the English army, in regard of some intelligence which was brought unto them, that the French were coming with twelve galleys and fifty ships, to fall upon them in the rear. So as, both parties being resolved to try their fortune, they ranged their armies in this manner. The English, having gained an hill, which was near their shipping, disposed their army in this order. The avant-guard, consisting of between three and four thousand foot, one hundred men-at-arms, and six hundred light horsemen, was conducted by the Earl of Warwick. After which followed the main battle, consisting of about six thousand foot, six hundred men-at-arms, and about one thousand light horsemen, commanded by the Lord Pro-rector himself.

And, finally, the arrear, consisting of between three and four thousand foot, one hundred men-at-arms, and six hundred light horse, was led by the Lord Dacres, an active, though an aged gentleman. FB355 The rest of the horses was either east into the wings, or kept for a reserve against all events. And so the battle being disposed, the Lord General, in few words, but with no small gravity, (which to a soldier serves instead of eloquence), puts them in mind of “the honor which their ancestors had acquired in that kingdom; of their own extreme disgrace and danger, if they fought not well: that the justness of their quarrel should not so much encourage as enrage them— being to revenge the dishonor done to their King, and to chastise the deceitful dealings of their enemies: that the multitude of their enemies should nothing dismay them, because they, who come to maintain their own breach of faith,—(besides that the check of their consciences much breaketh their spirit),—have the omnipotent arm of God most furious against them.” FB356 28. The Scots at the same time having improvidently crossed the Esk, to find their graves on this side of the water, disposed their army in this manner. In the avant-guard were placed about fifteen thousand, commanded by the Earl of Angus; about ten thousand in the main battle, of whom the Lord Governor took the conduct; and so many more in the arrear, led by the valiant Gourdon, Earl of Huntley. And, being ready to fall on (on a false hope that the English were upon the flight) the Lord Governor put them in remembrance, how “they could never yet be brought under by the English, but were always able either to beat them back or to weary them out:” bidding them “look upon themselves, and upon their enemies—themselves dreadful, their enemies gorgeous and brave; on their side, men, on the other, spoil; in case either through slowness or cowardice they did not permit them to escape, who (lo, now) already had begun their flight.” FB357 And, to say truth, the English having changed their ground, to gain the hill which lay near their shipping, and which also gave them the advantage both of sun and wind, wrought an opinion in the Scots that they dislodged to no other end than to recover their ships, that they might save themselves, though they lost their carriages. In confidence whereof, they quitted a place of great strength, where they were encamped, and from which the whole army of England was not able to force them. 29. But the old English proverb telleth us that “they that reckon without their host, are to reckon twice;” and so it fared with this infatuated people.

For on the tenth of September, the battles being ready to join, a piece of ordnance, discharged from the galley of England, took off five and twenty of their men; amongst whom the eldest son of the Lord Graham was one.

FB358 Whereupon four thousand archers, terrified with so unexpected a slaughter, made a stand, and could never after be brought on; so that they stood like men amazed, as neither having hearts to fight nor opportunity to fly. Which consternation notwithstanding, the Lord Gray, being sent with a strong party of horse to give the onset, found the main body so well embattled, and such a valiant opposition made by a stand of pikes, that they were almost as impenetrable as a rock of adamants: till, being terrified by the English ordnance, which came thundering on them from the top of the hill, and galled by the great shot from the ships, they began to brangle.

Which being perceived by the English, they gave a loud shout, crying, “They fly, they fly!” and thereby so astonished the aftrighted enemy, that they began to fly indeed, and presently throwing down their arms betook themselves unto their heels. Many were slain upon the place, more executed in the chase, and not a few in the Esk, which so improvidently they had passed the day before; FB359 so that the number of the slain was thought to have amounted to fourteen thousand. FB360 About fifteen hundred of both sorts were taken prisoners, among which the dating Earl of Huntley was one of the chief; who, being after asked, how he liked the marriage, is said to have returned this answer, that, “he could well enough brook the wedding, but that he did not like that kind of wooing.” FB361 Amongst the number of the slain were found good store of monks and friars; some thousands FB362 of which had put themselves into the army, which had been raised especially by their power and practices. 30. The greatness of the booty, in arms and baggage, was not the least cause that the English reaped no better fruit from so great a victory, and did not prosecute the war to an absolute conquest. For, being intent in pillaging the dead and gathering up the spoils of the field, and solacing themselves in Leith, for five days together, they gave the Scots time to make head again, to fortify some strong places on the other side of the Frith, and to remove the Queen to Dunbritton Castle, from whence they conveyed her into France in the year next following. And though the loss, rather than neglect, of this opportunity is to be attributed in the first place to God’s secret pleasure—who had reserved the union of the kingdoms till an happier time—yet were there many second causes and subordinate motives, which might prevail upon the Lord Protector to return for England without advancing any further. For either he might be taken off by the Earl of Warwick, who then began to cast an envious eye on his power and greatness: or might be otherwise unwilling, of his own accord, to tempt his fortune any further, by hazarding that honor in a second battle which he had acquired in the first: or he might think it more conducible to his affairs to be present at the following parliament; in which he had some work to do, which seemed more needful to him than the war with Scotland—the good success whereof would be ascribed to his officers and commanders, but the misfortunes wholly reckoned upon his account. Or, finally, (which I rather think), he might conceive it necessary to preserve his army, and quarter it in the most convenient places near the English borders, that it might be ready at command upon all occasions, if his designs should meet with any opposition, as before was said. And this may be believed the rather, because that, having fortified some islands in the mouth of the Frith, he garrisoned the greatest part of his army in Roxborough, Haddington, Hume Castle, and other pieces of importance— most of them lying near together, and the furthest not above a day’s march from Berwick. FB363 31. Now as concerning the day in which this victory was obtained, I find two notable mistakes—the one committed by the Right Reverend Bishop Godwin; and the other by the no less learned Sir John Hayward. By Bishop Godwin it is placed exceeding rightly, on the tenth of September; FB364 but then he doth observe it, as a thing remarkable—that this memorable victory was obtained on the very same day in which the images, which had been taken out of the several churches, were burned in London. Whereas we are informed by John Stow, FB365 a diligent observer of days and times—that the images in the churches of London were not taken down before the seventeenth of November. And we are told by Sir John Hayward that the day of this fight was the tenth of December, FB366 which must be either a mistake of the press or a slip of the pen; it being noted in the words next following, that on the same day, thirty-four years ago, the Scots had been defeated by the English at Flodden-field. Which, though it pointeth us back to the month of September, yet the mistake remaineth as unto the day;— that battle being fought, not on the tenth, but the ninth of September, as all our writers do agree. FB367 But, leaving these mistakes behind us, let us attend the Lord Protector to the court of England; towards which he hastened with such speed, that he stayed but twenty, five days upon Scottish ground from his first entrance to his exit. And, being come unto the court, he was not only welcomed by the King for so great a service, with a present of pounds 500 per annum to him and to his heirs for ever, but highly honored by all sorts of people: the rather, in regard that he had bought so great a victory at so cheap a rate as the loss of sixty horse only, and but one of his foot. FB368 32. And now ‘tis high time to attend the parliament, which took beginning on the fourth of November and was prorogued on the twenty-fourth of December following. In which the cards were so well packed by Sir Ralph Sadlier, that there was no need of any more shuffling till the end of the game:—this very parliament, without any sensible alteration of the members of it, being continued by prorogation, from session to session, until at last it ended by the death of the King. For a preparatory whereunto, Richard, Lord Rich, was made Lord Chancellor on the twenty-fourth of October; and Sir John Baker, Chancellor of the Court of First-fruits and Tenths, was nominated Speaker for the House of Commons. FB369 And, that all things might be carried with as little opposition and noise as might be, it was thought fit that Bishop Gardiner should be kept in prison till the end of the session; and that Bishop Tonstal, of Durham, (a man of a most even and moderate spirit), should be made less in reputation, by being deprived of his place at the Council-table. And though the Parliament consisted of such members as disagreed amongst themselves in respect of religion, yet they agreed well enough together in one common principle; which was, to serve the present time, and to preserve themselves. For, though a great part of the nobility, and not a few of the chief gentry in the House of Commons, were cordially affected to the Church of Rome: yet were they willing to give way to all such Acts and Statutes as were made against it, out of a fear of losing such Church-lands as they were possessed of, if that religion should prevail and get up again. And for the rest, who either were to make or improve their fortunes, there is no question to be made, but that they came resolved to further such a Reformation as should most visibly conduce to the advancement of their several ends. Which appears plainly by the strange mixture of the acts and results thereof—some tending simply to God’s glory, and the good of the Church; some to the present benefit and enriching of particular persons; and some, again, being devised of purpose to prepare a way for exposing the revenues of the Church unto spoil and rapine. Not to say anything of those Acts which were merely civil, and tended to the profit and emolument of the Commonwealth. 33. Of the first sort was the Act for repealing several Statutes concerning Treason. FB370 Under which head, besides those many bloody laws which concerned the life of the subject in civil matters, and had been made in the distracted times of the late King Henry, there was a repeal also of such statutes as seemed to touch the subject in life or liberty for matter of conscience: some whereof had been made in the times of King Richard the Second and Henry the Fourth, against such as, dissenting in opinion from the Church of Rome, were then called Lollards. FB371 Of which sort also was another, made in the twenty-fifth of the King deceased, FB372 together with that terrible statute of the Six Articles (commonly called “The Whip with Six Strings,”) FB373 made in the thirty-first year of the said King Henry.

Others were of a milder nature, but such as were thought inconsistent with that freedom of conscience which most men coveted to enjoy; that is to say, the Act for Qualification of the said Six Articles, 35 Henry VIII. cap. 5; FB374 the Act inhibiting the reading of the Old and New Testament in the English tongue, and the printing, selling, giving, or delivering of any such other books or writings as are therein mentioned and condemned,34 Henry VIII. cap. 1. But these were also abrogated, as the others were, together with all and every Act or Acts of Parliament concerning doctrine and matters of religion; and all and every article, branch, sentence and matter, pains and forfeitures, in the same contained. By which repeal all men may seem to have been put into a liberty of reading Scripture, and being in a manner their own expositors; of entertaining what opinions in religion best pleased their fancies, and promulgating those opinions which they entertained: FB375 so that the English for a time enjoyed that liberty which the Romans are affirmed by Tacitus to have enjoyed without control in the times of Nerva; that is to say, “A liberty of opining whatsoever they pleased, and speaking freely their opinions wheresoever they listed.” FB376 Which whether it were such a great felicity as that author makes it, may be more than questioned. 34. Of this sort also was the Act entitled “An Act against such as speak against the Sacrament of the Altar, and for the receipt thereof in both kinds:” cap. 50 In the first part whereof it is provided with great care and piety, that “Whatsoever person, or persons, from and after the first day of May next coming, shall deprave, despise, or contemn the most blessed Sacrament, by any contemptuous words, or by any words of depraving, despising, or reviling, etc. that then he or they shall suffer imprisonment, and make fine and ransom, at the King’s pleasure.” And, to say truth, it was but time that some provision should be made to suppress that irreverence and profaneness with which this blessed Sacrament was at that time handled by too many of those who seemed most ignorantly zealous of a Reformation. For whereas the Sacrament was in those times delivered unto each communicant in a small round wafer, commonly called by the name of Sacramentum Altaris, or, The blessed Sacrament of the Altar; and that such parts thereof as were reserved from time to time were hanged up over the altar in a pix, or box;—those zealous ones, in hatred to the Church of Rome, reproached it by the odious names of Jack-in-a-box, Round Robin, Sacrament of the Halter, and other names, so unbecoming the mouths of Christians, that they were never taken up by the Turks and Infidels. And though Bishop Ridley, a right learned and religious prelate, frequently in his sermons had rebuked the irreverent behavior of such light and ill-disposed persons, FB377 yet neither he, nor any other of the Bishops, were able to reform the abuse (the quality and temper of the times considered); which therefore was thought fit to be committed to the power of the civil magistrate, the Bishop being called in to assist at the sentence. 35. In the last branch of the Act it is first declared, according to the truth of Scripture, and the tenor of approved antiquity, “That it is most agreeable both to the institution of the said Sacrament, and more conformable to the common use and practice both of the Apostles and of the Primitive Church, by the space of five hundred years [and more] FB378 after Christ’s ascension, that the said blessed Sacrament should rather be ministered unto all Christian people under both the kinds of bread and wine than under the form of bread only.” And thereupon it was enacted, that “The said most blessed Sacrament should be hereafter commonly delivered and ministered unto the people, within the Church of England and Ireland and other the King’s dominions, under both the kinds, that is to say, of bread and wine.” With these provisos notwithstanding, “If necessity did not otherwise require;” as in the case of sudden sickness, and other such-like extremities, in which it was not possible that wine could be provided for the use of the Sacrament, nor the sick man depart this life in peace without it: and, secondly, That the permitting of this liberty to the people of England and the dominions of the same, should not be construed to the condemning of any other Church or Churches, or the usages of them, in which the contrary was observed. So far the Parliament enacted, in relation to the thing itself, as FB379 the subject-matter, that the communion should be delivered in both kinds to all the good people of the kingdoms. But for the form in which it was to be administered, that was left wholly to the King, and by the King committed to the care of the Bishops (of which more hereafter);—the Parliament declaring only, “That a godly exhortation should be made by the ministers, therein expressing the great benefit and comfort promised to them which worthily receive the same, and the great danger threatened by God to all such persons as should unworthily receive it.” 36. Now that there is not any thing, either in the declaration of this Parliament, or the words by which it was enacted, which doth not every way agree with Christ’s institution, appears most plainly by this passage of Bishop Jewel: “I would demand,” saith he, “of Master Harding, what things he would require to Christ’s institution? If words, Christ’s words be plain; if example, Christ himself ministered in both kinds; if authority, Christ commanded his disciples, and in them all other ministers of his Church, to do the like; if certainty of his meaning, the apostles, endued with the Holy Ghost, so practiced the same, and understood he meant so; if continuance of time, he bade the same to be continued till his coming again.” (Jewel against Harding, Art. 2. sect. 4.) FB380 Which said, he thus proceedeth in the eighth Section (that is to say): “Some say that the priests in Russia, for lack of wine, used to consecrate in metheglin. Others, that Innocent the Eighth, for the like want, dispensed with the priests of Norway to consecrate without wine. It were no reason to bind the [whole] Church to the necessity or imbecility of a few. For otherwise, the same want and impossibility FB381 which Master Harding hath here found for the one part of the Sacrament, may be found [also] for the other. For Arrianum, De Rebus Indicts, and Strabo, in his Geography, have written, that there be whole nations and countries that have no bread. FB382 Therefore it should seem necessary by this conclusion, that, in consideration of them, the whole Church should abstain from the other portion of the Sacrament also, and so have no Sacrament at all. FB383 But because he may be suspected to be over partial in favor of the Church of England, let us see next what is confessed by Doctor Harding, the first who took up arms against it in Queen Elizabeth’s time; who doth acknowledge in plain terms, that “the Communion was delivered in both kinds at Corinth, as appeareth by St Paul; and in many other places also, as may most evidently be found in the writings of many ancient Fathers. And finally, that it was so used for the space of six hundred years, and [long] after.” (Art. 2. sect. 8, 28.) FB384 37. But, because Harding leaves the point at 600 and after, I doubt not but we may be able, on an easy search, to draw the practice down to six hundred more, and possibly some what after also. For Haymo of Halberstadt, who flourished in the year 850, informs us that “the cup is called the cup of the communion of the blood of Christ, because all communicate thereof.” FB385 And we are certified in the history of Antonthus, Archbishop of Florence, that William, Duke of Normandy, immediately before the battle near Hastings, anno 1066, caused his whole army to communicate in both kinds as the use then was. FB386 And finally, it is observed by Thomas Aquinas, who lived in and after the year 1260, that in some Churches of his time the cup was not given unto the people. Which though he reckoneth for a provident and prudent usage; FB387 yet, by restraining it only to some few churches, he shews the general usage of the Church to have been otherwise at that time; as indeed it was. So that the Parliament in this case appointed nothing but what was consonant to the institution of our Lord and Savior, and to the practice of the Church for 1,260 years and upwards: which is sufficient to discharge it from the scandal of an innovation. Nor, probably, had the Parliament appointed this, but that it was advised by such godly Bishops as were desirous to reduce the ministration of that most blessed Sacrament to the first institution of it, and the primitive practice: the Convocation of that year not being empowered to act in any public business, for ought appearing on record. 38. The next great business was the retrieving of a statute made in the thirty-seventh year of King Henry the Eighth: FB388 by which all chantries, colleges, free-chapels, and hospitals, were permitted to the disposing of the King for term of his life. But the King dying before he had taken many of the said colleges, hospitals, chantries, and free-chapels into his possession, and the great ones of the court not being willing to lose so rich a booty—it was set on foot again, and carried in this present Parliament. In and by which it was enacted, that “All such colleges, free-chapels, and chantries, as were in being within five years of the present session, which were not in the actual possession of the said late King, etc. other than such as by the King’s commissions should be altered, transported, and changed; together with all manors, lands, tenements, rents, tithes, pensions, portions, and other hereditaments, to the same belonging;—after the feast of Easter then next coming, should be adjudged, and deemed, and also be, in the actual and real possession and seisin of the King, his heirs, and successors for ever.” FB389 And though the hospitals, being at that time an hundred and ten, were not included in this grant, as they had been in that to the King deceased; yet the revenue which by this Act was designed to the King, his heirs, and successors, must needs have been a great improvement to the Crown, if it had been carefully kept together, as it was first pretended: there being accounted ninety colleges within the compass of that grant (those in the Universities not being reckoned in that number); and no fewer than 2374 free-chapels and chantries FB390 —the lands whereof were thus conferred upon the King by name, but not intended to be kept together for his benefit only. In which respect it was very stoutly insisted on by Archbishop Cranmer, that the dissolving of these colleges, free-chapels, and chantries, should be deferred until the King should be of age, to the intent that they might serve the better to furnish and maintain his royal estate, than that so great a treasure should be consumed in his nonage, as it after was. FB391 Of this we shall speak more in the following year, when the grant of the said chantries, free-chapels, etc. came to take effect. 39. In the meantime, it will not be amiss to shew that these chantries consisted of salaries allowed to one or more priests, to say daily mass for the souls of their deceased founders and their friends. Which, not subsisting on themselves, were generally incorporated and united to some parochial, collegiate, or cathedral church; no fewer than forty-seven in number being found and founded in St Paul’s. FB392 Free-chapels, though ordained for the same intent, were independent of themselves, of stronger constitution and richer endowment than the chantries severally were; though therein they fell also short of the colleges, which far exceeded them, both in the beauty of their building, the number of priests maintained in them, and the proportion of revenue allotted to them. FB393 All which foundations, having in them an admixture of superstition (as presupposing purgatory, and prayers to be made for deliverance of the soul from thence), were therefore now suppressed upon that account, and had been granted to the late King upon other pretences. At what time FB394 it was preached at Mercers’ Chapel, in London, by one Doctor Crome FB395 (a man that wished exceeding well to the Reformation), that, “if trentals and chantry-masses could avail the souls in purgatory, then did the Parliament not well in giving away colleges and chantries which served principally for that purpose. But if the Parliament did well in dissolving and bestowing them upon the King, (which he thought that no man could deny), then was it a plain case, that such chantries and private masses did confer no relief on the souls in purgatory.” Which dilemma, though it were unanswerable, yet was the matter so handled by the Bishops, seeing how much the doctrine of the Church was concerned therein, that they brought him to a recantation at St Paul’s Cross, in the June next following—(this sermon being preached in Lent)—where he confessed himself to have been seduced by naughty books, contrary to the doctrine then received in the Church. FB396 But the current of these times went the other way, and Crome might now have preached that safely for which before he had been brought into so much trouble. 40. But that which made the greatest alteration, and threatened most danger to the state ecclesiastical, was the Act entitled “An Act for the election of Bishops, and what seals and styles shall be used by spiritual persons,” etc. In which it was ordained—(for I shall only repeat the sum thereof)—that “Bishops should be made by the King’s letters patent, and not by the election of the deans and chapters: that all their processes and writings should be made in the King’s name only, with the Bishop’s teste added to it; and sealed with no other seal but the King’s, or such as should be authorized and appointed by him.” In the compounding of which Act there was more danger couched than at first appeared. By the last branch thereof it was plain and evident, that the intent of the contrivers was by degrees to weaken the authority of the episcopal order, by forcing them from their stronghold of Divine institution, and making them no other than the King’s ministers only,—his ecclesiastical sheriffs (as a man might say), to execute his will and disperse his mandates. FB397 And of this Act such use was made, (though possibly beyond the true intention of it), that the Bishops of those times were not in a capacity of conferring orders, but as they were thereunto empowered by special license. The tenor whereof (if Sanders be to be believed) was in these words following: viz. “The King to” such a Bishop “Greeting: Whereas all and all manner of jurisdiction, as well ecclesiastical as civil, flows from the King, as from the supreme head of all the body, etc.—We therefore give, and grant to thee full power and license, to continue during our good pleasure, for holding ordination within thy diocese of N. and for promoting fit persons unto holy orders, even to that of the priesthood.” FB398 Which being looked on by Queen Mary not only as a dangerous diminution of the episcopal power, but an odious innovation in the Church of Christ, she caused this Act to be repealed in the first year of her reign; leaving the Bishops to depend on their former claim, and to act all things, which belonged to their jurisdiction, in their own names, and under their own seals, as in former times. In which estate they have continued, without any legal interruption, from that time to this. 41. But in the first branch there was somewhat more than what appeared at the first sight. For, though it seemed to aim at nothing but that the Bishops should depend wholly on the King for their preferment to those great and eminent places; yet the true drift of the design was to make deans and chapters useless for the time to come, and thereby to prepare them for a dissolution. FB399 For, had nothing else been intended in it, but that the King should have the sole nomination of all the Bishops in his kingdoms, it had been only a reviver of an ancient power, which had been formerly invested in his predecessors and in all other Christian Princes. Consult the stories and records of the elder times, and it will readily appear, not only that the Roman Emperors of the House of France did nominate the Popes themselves: FB400 but that, after they had lost that power, they retained the nomination of the Bishops of their own dominions. FB401 The like done also by the German Emperors, by the Kings of England, and by the ancient Kings of Spain: FB402 —the investiture being then performed per Annulum et Baculum, as they used to phrase it; that is to say, by delivering of a ring, together with a crosier or pastoral staff, to the party nominated. Examples of which practice are exceeding obvious in all the stories of those times.