The Reign of Henry the Eighth Part 28

auparavant il avoit promis, et je crains qu'il n'ait ordonne aux legatz ce qui jusques a present avoit reste en suspens qu'ils procedent par la premiere commission. Ce qui faisant votre Majeste peut tenir la Reine autant que cond.a.m.ne."--_MS. Archives at Brussels._

The sort of influence to which the See of Rome was amenable appears in another letter to the Emperor, written from Rome itself on the 4th of October. The Pope and cardinals, it is to be remembered, were claiming to be considered the supreme court of appeal in Christendom.

"Si je ne m'abuse tous ou la pluspart du Saint College sont plus affectionnez a vostre dite Majeste que a autre Prince Chrestien: de vous escrire, Sire, particulierement toutes leurs responses seroit chose trop longue. Tant y a que elles sont telles que votre Majeste a raison doubt grandement se contenter d'icelles.

"... Seulement diray derechief a vostre Majeste, et me souvient l'avoir dict plusieurs fois, qu'il est en vostre Majeste gaigner et entretenir perpetuellement ce college en vostre devotion en distribuant seulement entre les princ.i.p.aulx d'eulx en pensions et benefices la somme de vingt mille ducas, l'ung mille, l'autre deulx ou trois mille. Et est cecy chose, Sire, que plus vous touche que a autre Prince Chrestien pour les affaires que vostre Majeste a journellement a despescher en ceste court."--M. de Praet to Charles V. August 5th, 1529. MS. Ibid.

[170] LEGRAND, vol. iii. p. 377.

[171] Ibid. vol. iii. p. 374.

[172] Ibid. vol. iii. p. 355.

[173] Ibid.

[174] Memorandum relating to the Society of Christian Brethren. _Rolls House MS._

[175] DALABER'S _Narrative_, printed in FOXE, vol. iv. Seeley's Ed.

[176] All authorities agree in the early account of Henry, and his letters provide abundant proof that it is not exaggerated. The following description of him in the despatches of the Venetian amba.s.sador shows the effect which he produced on strangers in 1515:--

"a.s.suredly, most serene prince, from what we have seen of him, and in conformity, moreover, with the report made to us by others, this most serene king is not only very expert in arms and of great valour and most excellent in his personal endowments, but is likewise so gifted and adorned with mental accomplishments of every sort, that we believe him to have few equals in the world. He speaks English, French, Latin, understands Italian well; plays almost on every instrument; sings and composes fairly; is prudent, and sage, and free from every vice."--_Four Years at the Court of Henry VIII._ vol. i. p. 76.

Four years later, the same writer adds,--

"The king speaks good French, Latin, and Spanish; is very religious; hears three ma.s.ses a day when he hunts, and sometimes five on other days; he hears the office every day in the queen's chamber--that is to say, vespers and complins."--Ibid. vol. ii. p. 312. William Thomas, who must have seen him, says,

"Of personage he was one of the goodliest men that lived in his time; being high of stature, in manner more than a man, and proportionable in all his members unto that height; of countenance he was most amiable; courteous and benign in gesture unto all persons and specially unto strangers; seldom or never offended with anything; and of so constant a nature in himself that I believe few can say that ever he changed his cheer for any novelty how contrary or sudden so ever it were. Prudent he was in council and forecasting; most liberal in rewarding his faithful servants, and even unto his enemies, as it behoveth a prince to be. He was learned in all sciences, and had the gift of many tongues. He was a perfect theologian, a good philosopher, and a strong man at arms, a jeweller, a perfect builder as well of fortresses as of pleasant palaces, and from one to another there was no necessary kind of knowledge, from a king's degree to a carter's, but he had an honest sight in it."--_The Pilgrim_ p. 78.

[177] Exposition of the Commandments, set forth by Royal authority, 1536.

This treatise was drawn up by the bishops, and submitted to, and revised by, the king.

[178] SAGUDINO'S _Summary. Four Years at the Court of Henry VIII._ vol. ii.

P. 75.

[179] "The truth is, when I married my wife, I had but fifty pounds to live on for me and my wife so long as my father lived, and yet she brought me forth every year a child."--Earl of Wilts.h.i.+re to Cromwell: ELLIS, third series, vol. iii. pp. 22, 3.

[180] BURNET, vol. i. p. 69.

[181] Thomas Allen to the Earl of Shrewsbury: LODGE'S _Ill.u.s.trations_, vol.

i. p. 20.

[182] Earl of Northumberland to Cromwell: printed by LORD HERBERT and by BURNET.

[183] 28 Hen. VIII. cap. 7.

[184] Since these words were written, I have discovered among the Archives of Simancas what may perhaps be some clue to the mystery, in an epitome of a letter written to Charles V. from London in May, 1536:---

"His Majesty has letters from England of the 11th of May, with certain news that the paramour of the King of England, who called herself queen, has been thrown into the Tower of London for adultery. The partner of her guilt was an organist of the Privy Chamber, who is in the Tower as well. An officer of the King's wardrobe has been arrested also for the same offence with her, and one of her brothers for having been privy to her offences without revealing them. They say, too, that if the adultery had not been discovered, the King was determined to put her away, having been informed by competent witnesses that she was married and had consummated her marriage nine years before, with the Earl of Northumberland."

[185] ELLIS, third series, vol. ii. p. 131.

[186] Wyatt's Memorials, printed in Singer's CAVENDISH, p. 420.

[187] ELLIS, third series, vol. ii. p. 132.

[188] ELLIS, first series, vol. i. p. 135. "My Lord, in my most humblest wise that my poor heart can think, I do thank your Grace for your kind letter, and for your rich and goodly present; the which I shall never be able to deserve without your great help; of the which I have hitherto had so great plenty, that all the days of my life I am most bound of all creatures, next to the King's Grace, to love and serve your Grace. Of the which I beseech you never to doubt that ever I shall vary from this thought as long as any breath is in my body."

[189] CAVENDISH _Life of Wolsey,_ p. 316. Singer's edition.

[190] CAVENDISH, pp. 364, 5.

[191] _Letters of the Bishop of Bayonne_, LEGRAND, vol. iii. pp. 368, 378, etc.

[192] See HALE'S _Criminal Causes from the Records of the Consistory Court of London._

[193] Pet.i.tion of the Commons, infra, p. 191, etc.

[194] Reply of the Ordinaries to the pet.i.tion of the Commons, infra, p.

202, etc.

[195] Pet.i.tion of the Commons. 23 Hen. VIII. c. 9.

[196] HALE'S _Criminal Causes,_ p.4.

[197] An Act that no person committing murder, felony, or treason should be admitted to his clergy under the degree of sub-deacon.

[198] In May, 1528, the evil had become so intolerable, that Wolsey drew the pope's attention to it. Priests, he said, both secular and regular, were in the habit of committing atrocious crimes, for which, if not in orders, they would have been promptly executed; and the laity were scandalised to see such persons not only not degraded, but escaping with complete impunity. Clement something altered the law of degradation in consequence of this representation, but quite inadequately.--RYMER, vol.

vi. part 2, p. 96.

[199] Thomas Cowper et ejus uxor Margarita p.r.o.nubae horribiles, et instigant mulieres ad fornicandum c.u.m quibuscunque laicis, religiosis, fratribus minoribus, et nisi fornicant in domo sua ipsi diffamabunt nisi voluerint dare eis ad voluntatem eorum; et vir est p.r.o.nuba uxori, et vult relinquere eam apud fratres minores pro peccatis habendis.--HALE, _Criminal Causes,_ p. 9.

Joanna Cutting communis p.r.o.nuba at praesertim inter presbyteros fratres monachos et canonicos et etiam inter Thomam Peise et quandam Agnetam, etc.--HALE, _Criminal Causes,_ p. 28.

See also Ibid. pp. 15, 22, 23, 39, etc.

In the first instance the parties accused "made their purgation" and were dismissed. The exquisite corruption of the courts, instead of inviting evidence and sifting accusations, allowed accused persons to support their own pleas of not guilty by producing four witnesses, not to disprove the charges, but to swear that they believed the charges untrue. This was called "purgation."

Clergy, it seems, were sometimes allowed to purge themselves simply on their own word.--HALE, p. 22; and see the Preamble of the 1st of the 23rd of Henry VIII.

[200] Complaints of iniquities arising from confession were laid before Parliament as early as 1394.

"Auricularis confessio quae dicitur tam necessaria ad salvationem hominis, c.u.m ficta potestate absolutionis exaltat superbiam sacerdotum, et dat illis opportunitatem secretarum sermocinationum quas nos nolumus dicere, quia domini et dominae attestantur quod pro timore confessorum suorum non audent dicere veritatem; et in tempore confessionis est opportunum tempus procationis id est of wowing et aliarum secretarum conventionum ad peccata mortalia. Ipsi dic.u.n.t quod sunt commissarii Dei ad judicandum de omni peccato perdonandum et mundandum quemcunque eis placuerint. Dic.u.n.t quod habent claves coeli et inferni et possunt excommunicare et benedicere ligare et solvere in voluntatem eorum; in tantum quod pro bussello vel 12 denariis volunt vendere benedictionem coeli per chartam et clausulam de warrantia sigillita sigillo communi. Ista conclusio sic est in usu quod non eget probatione aliqua."--Extract from a Pet.i.tion presented to Parliament: WILKINS, vol. iii. p. 221.

This remarkable paper ends with the following lines:--

"Plangunt Anglorum gentes crimen Sodomorum Paulus fert horum sunt idola causa malorum Surgunt ingrati Giezitae Simone nati Nomine praelati hoc defensare parati Qui reges estis populis quicunque praestis Qualiter his gestis gladios prohibere potestis."

See also HALE, p. 42, where an abominable instance is mentioned, and a still worse in the _Suppression of the Monasteries,_ pp. 45-50.