Henry VIII. A. D. 1541. mund College. they are for the most part tiled.* In all this great maze and garboil, there was nothing more feared than the melting of the lead, which many affirmed that they felt dropping upon their bodies. Now in this sudden terror and fear, which took from them all reason and counsel out of their minds, to behold what practices and sundry shifts every man made for himself, it would make not only Democritus and Heraclitus also to laugh, but rather a horse well near to break his halter. But none used themselves more ridiculously, than such as seemed greatest wise men, saving that in one or two, peradventure, Claysomewhat more quietness of mind appeared; among whom was one president Claymund, president of Corpus Christi College (whom, for reverence, of Corpus and learning's sake, I do here name), and a few other aged persons with him, who, for their age and weakness, durst not thrust themselves into the throng amongst the rest, but kneeled down quietly before the high altar, committing themselves and their lives unto the sacrament. The others, who were younger and stronger, ran up and down through the press, marvelling at the incivility of men, and waxed angry with the unmannerly multitude that would give no room unto the doctors, bachelors, masters, and other graduates and regentmasters. But, as the terror and fear was common unto all men, so was there no difference made of persons or degrees, every man scrambling for himself. The violet cap, or purple gown, did there nothing avail the doctor; neither the master's hood, nor the monk's cowl, was there respected. Yea, if the king or queen had been there at that present, and in that perplexity, they had been no better than a common man. After they had long striven and assayed all manner of ways, and saw no remedy, neither by force nor authority to prevail, they fell to entreating and offering of rewards; one offering twenty pounds of good money, another his scarlet gown, so that any man would pull him out, though it were by the ears! Some stood close unto the pillars, thinking themselves safe under the vaults of stone from the dropping of the lead: others, being without money, and unprovided of all shifts, knew not which way to turn them. One, being a president of a certain college (whose name I need not here to utter), pulling a board out from the pews, covered his head and shoulders therewith against the scalding lead, which they feared much more than the fall of the church. Now what a laughter would this have ministered unto Democritus amongst other things, to behold there a certain grand paunch, who, seeing the doors stopped, and every way closed up, thought, by another compendious. means, to get out through a glass window, if it might be by any shift? But here the iron grates letted him; notwithstanding his greedy mind would needs attempt, if he could haply bring his purpose to pass. When he had broken the glass, and was come to the space between the grates where he should creep out, first he thrust in his head with the one shoulder, and it went through well enough. Then he laboured to get the other shoulder after; but there was a great labour about that, and long he stuck by the shoulders with much ado; for what doth not importune labour overcome? Thus far forth he was now gotten; but, by what part of his body he did stick fast, I am not certain, neither may I feign, forasmuch as there Henry be yet witnesses who did see these things, who would correct me, if VIII. I should so do. Notwithstanding, this is most certain, that he did A.D. stick fast between the grates, and could neither get out, nor in. 1541. A boy Thus this good man, being indeed a monk, and having but short hose, by the which way he supposed soonest to escape, by the same he fell into further inconvenience, making of one danger two. For, if the fire or lead had fallen on the outside, those parts which did hang out of the window had been in danger; and, contrariwise, if the flame had raged within the church, all his other parts had lien open to the fire. And as this man did stick fast in the window, so did the rest stick as fast in the doors, that sooner they might have been burned, than they could once stir or move one foot through the which press, at last, there was a way found, that some, going over their heads, gat out. Here also happened another pageant in a certain monk (if I be not misadvised) of Gloucester College, whereat Calphurnius might well laugh with an open mouth. So it happened, that there was a young lad in this tumult, who, seeing the doors fast stopped with the press or multitude, and that he had not way to get out, climbed up upon the door; and there, staying upon the top of the door, was forced to tarry still: for, to come down into the church again he durst not for fear of the fire, and to leap down toward the street he could not without danger of falling. When he had tarried there getteth awhile, he advised himself what to do; neither did occasion want to monk's serve his purpose: for, by chance, amongst them that got out over men's heads, he saw a monk, coming towards him, who had a great wide cowl hanging at his back. This the boy thought to be a good occasion for him to escape by. When the monk came near unto him, the boy, who was on the top of the door, came down, and prettily conveyed himself into the monk's cowl; thinking (as it came to pass indeed) that if the monk did escape, he should also get out with him. To be brief, at last the monk gat out over men's heads, with the boy in his cowl, and, for a great while, felt no weight or burden. into a cowl. At last, when he was somewhat more come to himself, and, did shake his shoulders, feeling his cowl heavier than it was accustomed to be, and also hearing the voice of one speaking behind in his cowl, he was more afraid than he was before when he was in the throng, thinking, in very deed, that the evil spirit which had set the church on fire had flien into his cowl. By and by he began to play the exorcist: "In the name of God," said he, "and all saints, I command thee to declare what thou art, that art behind at my back!” To whom the boy answered, "I am Bertram's boy," said he; for that was his name. "But I," said the monk, "adjure thee, in the name of the unseparable Trinity, that thou, wicked spirit! do tell me. who thou art, from whence thou comest, and that thou get thee hence." "I am Bertram's boy," said he, "good master! let me go:" and with that his cowl began, with the weight, to crack upon his shoulders. The monk when he perceived the matter, took the boy out, and discharged his cowl. The boy took to his legs, and ran away as fast as he could. (1) Pleno ridet Calphurnius ore.'- Horace. VII. Among others, one wiser than the rest ran with the church-door Henry key, beating upon the stone walls, thinking therewith to break a hole through to escape out. In the mean time those that were in the street, looking diligently about them, and perceiving all things to be without fear, marvelled at this sudden outrage, and made signs and tokens to them that were in the church to keep themselves quiet, crying to them that there was no danger. But, forasmuch as no word could be heard by reason of the noise that was within the church, those signs made them much more afraid than they were before, interpreting the matter as though all had been on fire without the church; and for the dropping of the lead and falling of other things, they should rather tarry still within the church, and not to venture out. This trouble continued in this manner by the space of certain hours. The next day, and also all the week following, there was an incredible number of bills set upon the church doors, to inquire for things that were lost, in such variety and number, as Democritus might here again have had just cause to laugh. "If any man have found a pair of shoes yesterday in St. Mary's Church, or knoweth any man that hath found them," &c. Another bill was set up for a gown that was lost. Another entreated to have his cap restored. One lost his purse and girdle, with certain money; another his sword. One inquired for a ring, and one for one thing, another for another. To be short, there were few in this garboil, but that either through negligence lost, or through oblivion left, something behind them. Thus have you heard a tragical story of a terrible fire, which did no hurt; the description whereof, although it be not so perfectly expressed according to the worthiness of the matter, yet because it was not to be passed with silence, we have superficially set forth some shadow thereof, whereby the wise and discreet may sufficiently consider the rest, if any thing else be lacking in setting forth the full narration thereof. As touching the heretic, because he had not done his sufficient penance there by occasion of this hurly-burly, therefore the next day following he was reclaimed into the church of St. Frideswide, where he supplied the rest that lacked of his plenary penance. THE KING DIVORCED FROM THE LADY ANNE OF CLEVES, AND HIS FIFTH WIFE. A. D. 1540 to 1541. The same year, and in the month following next after the apprehen- A.D 1540. sion of the lord Cromwell, which was August, 1540,' the king immediately was divorced from the lady Anne of Cleves; the cause of which separation being wholly committed to the clergy of the convocation, it was by them defined, concluded, and granted, that the king, being (1) It has been found necessary to alter several of the dates connected with the story of Cromwell, and this among others. Foxe considered that Cromwell was apprehended in July 1541. Stow, in his 'Annales,' (fol. Lond. 1750), gives the 9th of July, 1540, as the date; but even this is too late, as the Bill of Attainder had finally passed the Lords on the 29th of June. The writers of the Biographia Britannica, (fol. Lond. 1750, vol. iii. p. 1535), draw attention to both these errors, and insist that the 10th of June, 1540, is the true date. It is a curious fact, that not even this statement is correct. The Journals show that Cromwell took his seat in the House of Lords as vicegerent, as late as the 18th of June, 1540. After the 18th he appeared there no more. In all probability, therefore, his arrest took place on or about that day. -The bill for the divorce of Anne of Cleves was concluded' on the 16th of July, 1540. See the Journals of the Lords.-ED. VIII. 1542. Henry freed from that pretensed matrimony (as they called it), might marry where he would, and so might she likewise; who, also, consenting to A.D. the same divorcement herself, by her own letters, was after that taken no more for queen, but only called Anne of Cleves. Which things thus discussed by the parliament and convocation-house, the king the same month was married to his fifth wife, who was the lady Katherine Howard, niece to the duke of Norfolk, and daughter to the lord Edmund Howard, the duke's brother. But this marriage likewise continued not long. Six popish monks, ing the premacy, In the same month of August, and the same year, I find, moreover, in some records, besides the four and twenty Charterhouse monks for deny above recited,' whom Cope doth sanctify for holy martyrs, for sufferking's su- ing in the pope's devotion, against the king's supremacy, other six executed. who were also brought to Tyburn, and there executed in the like case of rebellion; of whom the first was the prior of Doncaster; the second a monk of the Charterhouse of London, called Giles Horn (some call him William Horn); the third one Thomas Ipsam, a monk of Westminster, who had his monk's garment plucked from his back, being the last monk in king Henry's days that did wear that monkish weed; the fourth one Philpot; the fifth one Carew; the sixth was a friar. See what a difficulty it is to pluck up blind superstition, once rooted in man's heart by a little custom. Now, as touching the late marriage between the king and the lady Howard, ye heard how this matrimony endured not long; for, in the A.D.1542. year next following, 1542,2 the said lady Katherine was accused to the king of incontinent living, not only before her marriage with Francis Dereham, but also of spouse-breach, after her marriage, with Thomas Culpepper. For this both the men aforesaid, by act of parliament were attainted, and executed for high treason; and also the lady Katherine, late queen, with the lady Jane Rochford, widow, late wife to George Bullen lord Rochford, brother to queen Anne Bullen, were beheaded for their deserts, within the Tower.3 The king's mind in After the death and punishment of this lady, his fifth wife, the king, calling to remembrance the words of the lord Cromwell, and missing now more and more his old counsellor, and partly also smelling somewhat the ways of Winchester, began a little to set his foot again in the cause of religion. And although he ever bare a special favour to Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury (as you shall clined to hear more hereafter, God willing, in the life of Cranmer), yet now, tion of the more he missed the lord Cromwell, the more he inclined to the religion. archbishop, and also to the right cause of religion. And therefore, in the same year and in the month of October, after the execution of this queen, the king, understanding some abuses yet to remain unreformed, namely, about pilgrimages and idolatry, and other things besides, to be corrected within his dominions, directed his letters. unto the aforesaid archbishop of Canterbury, for the speedy redress reforma (1) See page 439; they were not, however, all Charterhouse monks.-ED. (2) This is the historical year. The Journals of the Lords, using at that time the legal and ecclesiastical year, which commenced on the 25th of March, give these transactions under the year 1541. Lingard gives the date as Foxe has done. Foxe, however, says, 'in the next year following,' while Lingard, more consistent, allows an interval of eighteen months; queen Katherine's marriage took place Aug. 8, 1540. She was beheaded on the 12th or 13th of February, 1542.-ED. (3) It is reported of some, that this lady Rochford forged a false letter against her husband and queen Anne, his sister, by which they were both cast away; which, if it be so, the judgment of God then is here to be marked. Ex Hallo et aliis. and reformation of the same; the tenor of which letters hereafter Henry fully ensueth, in these words. The King's Letters to Archbishop Cranmer, for the abolishing of VIII. A. D. 1542. monu abolished by the Right reverend father in God, right trusty and well-beloved! we greet you Shrines, well, letting you to wit, that whereas heretofore, upon the zeal and remem- relics, and brance which we had to our bounden duty towards Almighty God, perceiving ments of sundry superstitions and abuses to be used and embraced by our people, whereby idolatry, they grievously offended him and his Word, we did not only cause the images and bones of such as they resorted and offered unto, with the ornaments of the king. same, and all such writings and monuments of feigned miracles, wherewith they were illuded, to be taken away in all places of our realm; but, also, by our injunctions commanded, that no offering or setting up of lights or candles should be suffered in any church, but only to the blessed sacraments of the altar: it is lately come unto our knowledge, that this our good intent and purpose notwithstanding, the shrines, coverings of shrines, and monument of those things, do yet remain in sundry places of this realm, much to the slander of our doings, and to the great displeasure of Almighty God, the same being means to allure our subjects to their former hypocrisy and superstition; and also that our injunctions be not kept as appertaineth. For the due and speedy reformation whereof, we have thought meet, by these our letters, expressly to will and command you, that incontinent upon the receipt hereof, you shall not only cause due search to be made in the cathedral church for those things; and if any shrine, covering of shrine, table, monument of miracles, or other pilgrimages, do there continue, to cause it to be so taken away as there remain no memory of it; but also, that you shall take order with all the curates, and others having charge within your diocese, to do the semblable, and to see that our injunctions be duly kept as appertaineth, without failing; as we trust you, and as you will answer to the contrary. Given under our signet at our town of Hull, the fourth day of October, Furthermore, the next year after this ensuing, which was 1543, in the month of February, followed another proclamation, given out by the king's authority, wherein the pope's law, forbidding white meats to be eaten in Lent, was repealed, and the eating of such meats set at liberty, for the behoof of the king's subjects: the copy of which proclamation I thought here good also to be remembered. A Proclamation concerning Eating of White Meats, made the ninth day of February, the thirty-fourth year' of the reign of the King's most Royal Majesty. white at liberty. Forasmuch as by divers and sundry occasions, as well herrings, lings, salt- The eatfish, salmon, stockfish, as other kinds of fish, have been this year scant, and ing of also enhanced in prices above the old rate and common estimation of their value, meats in so that if the king's loving subjests should be enforced only to buy and provide Lent set herrings and other salt store of fish, for the necessary aud sufficient sustentation and maintenance of their households and families all this holy time of Lent, according as they have been wont in times past to do, and should not be, by some other convenient means, relieved therein, the same might, and should undoubtedly, redound to their importable charge and detriment; and, forasmuch as his highness considereth how this kind and manner of fasting, that is to say, to abstain from milk, butter, eggs, cheese, and other white meats, is but a mere (1) If this proclamation followed the other at an interval of about four months only, the regnal year would be the same, viz. the 33d; as the regnal years of Henry VIII. are reckoned from the 22d of April. See Nicolas's Chronology of History (post 8vo. Lond. 1833), page 314.-ED. |