THE ONLY SURVIVING SON OF KING HENRY THE EIGHTH, Before His Coming To The Crown: With The Condition Of Affairs, Both In Church And State, At His First Coming To The Same. 1. PRINCE Edward, the only surviving son of King Henry the Eighth, was born at the royal palace of Hampton Court, on the twelfth day of October, anno 1537. Descended, by his father, from FB39 the united families of York and Lancaster; by his grandfather, King Henry the Seventh, from the old royal line of the kings of Wales; by his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of King Edward the Fourth, from a long continued race of kings, descending from the loins of the Norman Conqueror; and finally, by Maud, the wife of King Henry the First, from Edmond, surnamed Ironside, the last unquestionable king, (as to the right of his succession), of the Saxon race. So that all titles seemed to be concentred in the person of this infant prince, which might assure the subjects of a peaceable and untroubled reign; so much the more, because his mother’s marriage was not subject unto any dispute, (as were those of the two former Queens), whereby the legitimation of her issue might be called in question—an happiness which recompensed all defects that might be otherwise pretended against her birth, not answerable unto that of so great a monarch, and short in some respects of that of her predecessor in the King’s affections; though of a family truly noble, and of great antiquity.

Concerning which it will be necessary to premise somewhat in this place, not only for the setting forth of this Queen’s progenitors, but that we may the better understand the state of that family which was to act so great a part on the stage of England. 2. Know then, that Queen Jane Seimour was daughter of Sir John Seimour, of Wolf Hall, in the county of Wilts. Descended from that William de S.

Mauro (contractedly FB40 afterwards called Seimour), who by the aid of Gilbert Lord Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, recovered Wendy FB41 and Penhow, (now parts of Monmouthshire), from the hands of the Welsh, anno 1240, being the two and twentieth year of King Henry the Third’s reign; which William, as he descended lineally from the d’ Sancto Mauro, whose name we find in the Roll of Battle Abbey amongst those noble families which came in with the Conqueror, so was he one of the progenitors of that Sir Roger S. Maur, or Seimour, Knight, who married one of the daughters and heirs of John Beauchamp, of Hath, a right noble Baron, who brought his pedigree from Sybil, one of the five daughters and heirs of William Marshal, the famous and most puissant Earl of Pembroke, married to William de Ferrars, FB42 Earl of Ferrars and Derby, as also from Hugh d’Vivon and William Mallet, men in times past most renowned for estate and chivalry. Which goodly patrimony was afterwards very much augmented, by the marriage of one of this noble family with the daughter and heir of the Esturmies, Lords of Wolf Hall, not far from Marleborough, in the county of Wilts, whe bare for arms, Argent, 3 Demy Lions, Gules, and from the time of King Henry the Second were by right of inheritance the bailiffs and guardians of the forest of Savernak, FB43 lying hard by; which is of great note for plenty of good game, and for a kind of fern there, that yieldeth a most pleasant savor. In remembrance whereof, their hunter’s horn, of a mighty bigness, and tipt with silver, is kept by the Earls of Hartford unto this day, as a monument of their descent from such noble ancestors. FB44 Out of which house came Sir John Seimour, of Wolf Hall, the father of this excellent Queen, as also of the three sons, Edward, Henry, and Thomas, of which we shall speak somewhat severally in the way of preamble, the first and last being principal actors on the public theater of King Edward’s reign. 3. And first, Sir Edward Seimour, the eldest son, received the order of knighthood at the hands of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and brotherin- law to King Henry the Eighth; in the fifteenth year of whose reign he FB45 commanded a right puissant army in a war with France, where he took the town of Mont Dedier, and other pieces of importance. On this foundation he began the rise of his following fortunes, exceedingly improved by the marriage of the King with his only sister; from whom, on Tuesday in Whitsun-week, anno 1536, he received the title of Viscount Beauchamp, with reference to his descent from the Lord John Beauchamp above mentioned, and on the 18th of October, in the year next following, he was created Earl of Hartford. A man observed by Sir John Hayward, FB46 in his History of King Edward the Sixth, to be “of little esteem for wisdom, personage, or courage in arms;” FB47 but found withal not only to be very faithful but exceeding fortunate, as long as he served under the more powerful planet of King Henry the Eighth. About five years before the end of whose reign (he being then Warden of the Marches against Scotland), the invasion of King James the Fifth was by his direction encountered and broken at Solome Moss, FB48 where divers of the Scottish nobility were taken prisoners. In the next year after, accompanied with Sir John Dudley, Viscount Lisle FB49 (created afterwards Earl of Warwick and Duke of Northumberland by King Edward the Sixth), with a handful of men he fired Lieth and Edinborough, and returned by a leisurely march forty-four miles through the body of Scotland. And in the year following he invaded the Scottish borders, wasted Tivedale and the marches, FB50 defacing all those parts with spoil and ruin. As fortunate in his undertakings against the French as against the Scots; for, being appointed by the King to view the fortifications upon the marches of Callice, he did not only perform that service to the King’s contentment, but with the hardy approach of 7,000 Englishmen, raised an army of 21,000 French, encamped over the river before Bulloign, won their ordnance, carriage, treasure, and tents, with the loss only of one man; winning in his return from thence the castle of Ouling, FB51 commonly called the Red Pile, within shot and rescue of the town of Ardes. And finally, in the year ensuing, (being the last of that King’s reign), he began the fortresses of Newhaven, Blackness, and Bullingberg; in which he plied his work so well, that before his departure from those places he had made them tenable. Such were his actings in the time of King Henry the Eighth, against whose powerful genius there was no withstanding. In all whose time he never rose to any haughtiness in himself or contempt of others, but still remained courteous and affable towards all; choosing a course, (least subject to envy), between stiff stubbornness and servile flattery, without aspiring any further than to hold a second place in the King’s good grace. FB52 But being left unto himself, and either overwhelmed by the greatness of that authority which was cast upon him in the minority of King Edward, or undermined by the practices of his cunning and malicious enemies, he suddenly became, (according to the usual disports of fortune), a calamitous ruin; as being in himself of an easy nature, apt to be wrought upon by more subtle heads, and wholly governed by his last wife; of which more hereafter. 4. In the mean time we are to know, that, having married one of the daughters and co-heirs of William Filol, FB53 of Woodlands, in the county of Dorset, he had by her, amongst other children, a son called Edward, from whom descends Sir Edward Seimour of Berry Pomery, in the county of Devon, Knight, and Baronet. FB54 After whose death he married Ann, the daughter of Sir Edward Stanhop, by whom he had a son, called Edward also, on whom he was prevailed with to entail both his lands and honors; the children of the former bed being prefermitred. FB55 Concerning which there goes a story, that the Earl, having been formerly employed in France, did there acquaint himself with a learned man, supposed to have great skill in magic: of whom he obtained, by great rewards and importunities, to let him see, by the help of some magical perspective, in what estate all his relations stood at home. In which impertinent curiosity he was so far satisfied, as to behold a gentleman of his acquaintance in a more familiar posture with his wife than was agreeable to the honor of either party. To which diabolical illusion he is said to have given so much credit, that he did not only estrange himself from her society at his coming home, but furnished his next wife with an excellent opportunity for pressing him to the disinheriting of his former children. But whether this were so or not, certain it is that his last wife, being a proud imperious woman, and one that was resolved to gain her own ends upon him, never left plying him with one suspicion after another, till in the end she had prevailed to have the greatest part of his lands, and all his honorable titles, settled on her eldest son. And, that she might make sure work of it, she caused him to obtain a private act of parliament, in the thirty-second year of Henry the Eighth, anno 1540, for entailing the same on this last Edward, and the heirs-male of his body. So easy was he to be wrought on, by those that knew on which side he did lie most open to assaults and batteries. 5. Of a far different temper was his brother Thomas, the youngest son of Sir John Seimour; of a daring and enterprising nature, arrogant in himself, a despiser of others, and a contemner of all counsels which were not first forged in his own brain. Following his sister to the court, he received the order of knighthood from the hands of the King, at such time as his brother was made Earl of Hartford; and on May-day in the thirtieth year of the King’s reign, he was one of the challengers at the magnificent justs maintained by him and others against all comers in the palace of Westminster; in which, together with the rest, he behaved himself so highly to the King’s contentment and their own great honor, that they were all severally rewarded with the grant of 100 marks of yearly rent, and a convenient house for habitation thereunto belonging, out of the late dissolved order of St John of Jerusalem. FB56 Which, being the first foundation of his following greatness, proved not sufficient to support the building which was raised upon it; the gentleman, and almost all the rest of the challengers, coming within few years after to unfortunate ends. For being made Lord Seimour of Sudley, and Lord High Admiral of England, by King Edward the Sixth, he would not satisfy his ambition with a lower marriage than the widow of his deceased Sovereign,—aspiring after her death to the bed of the Princess Elizabeth, the second daughter of the King.

Which wrought such jealousies and distrusts in the head of his brother, then being Lord Protector of the King and kingdom, that he was thereupon arraigned, condemned, and executed, (of which more anon), to the great joy of such as practiced to subvert them both. FB57 As for the Barony of Sudley, denominated from a goodly manor, in the county of Gloucester, it was anciently the patrimony of Harold, the eldest son of Ralph d’Mont, the son of Walter Medantinus or d’Mont, and of Goda his wife, one of the daughters of Ethelred, and sister of Edmond, surnamed Ironside, kings of England: FB58 whose posterity, taking to themselves the name of Sudley, continued in possession of it till the time of John, the last baron of this name and family, whose daughter Joane conveyed the whole estate in marriage to Sir William Botteler, of the family of Wemm, in Shropshire.

From whom descended Ralph, Lord Botteler, of Sudley Castle, Chamberlain of the Household to King Henry the Sixth, by whom he was created Knight of the Garter, and Lord High Treasurer of England. And though the greatest part of this inheritance, being divided between the sisters and co-heirs, came to other families, yet the castle and barony of Sudley remained unto a male of this house until the latter end of the reign of King Henry the Eighth, to whom it was escheated by the attainder of the last Lord Botteler, FB59 whose greatest crime was thought to be this goodly manor, which some greedy courtiers had an eye on. And being fallen unto the crown, it was no hard matter for the Lord Protector to estate the same upon his brother; who was scarce warmed in his new honor, when it fell in to the crown again. Where it continued all the rest of King Edward’s reign, and by Queen Mary was conferred on Sir John Bruges, (who derived his pedigree from one of the said sisters and co-heirs of Ralph, Lord Botteler) whom she ennobled, by the title of Lord Chaundos of Sudley. FB60 6. As for Sir Henry Seimour, the second son of Sir John Seimour, he was not found to be of so fine a metal as to make a courtier, and was therefore left unto the life of a country gentleman; advanced by the power and favor of his elder brother to the order of knighthood; and afterwards estated in the manors of Marvell and Twyford, in the county of Southampton, FB61 dismembered in those broken times from the see of Winchester. To each of these belonged a park,—that of the first containing no less than four miles, that of the last but two in compass; the first being also honored with a goodly mansion-house, belonging anciently to those bishops, and little inferior to the best of the wealthy bishoprics. There goes a story, that the priest officiating at the altar, in the church of Ouslebury, (of which parish Maryell was a part), after the mass had been abolished by the King’s authority, was violently dragged thence by this Sir Henry, beaten, and most reproachfully handled by him, his servants universally refusing to serve him as the instruments of his rage and fury; and that the poor priest, having after an opportunity to get into the church, did openly curse the said Sir Henry and his posterity with bell, book, and candle, according to the use observed in the Church of Rome. Which, whether it were so or not, or that the main foundation of this estate, being laid on sacrilege, could promise no long blessing to it—certain it is, that his posterity are brought beneath the degree of poverty. For, having three nephews, by Sir John Seimour, his only son—that is to say, Edward, the eldest, Henry and Thomas, younger sons, besides several daughters,—there remains not to any of them one foot of land, or so much as a penny of money to supply their necessities, but what they have from the munificence of the Marquis of Hartford, FB62 or the charity of other well-disposed people which have affection or relation for them. 7. But the great ornament of this house was their sister Jane, the only daughter of her father, by whose care she was preferred to the court, and service of Queen Ann Bollen, where she outshined all the other ladies, and in short time had gained exceeding much on the King, a great admirer of fresh beauties, and such as could pretend unto no command on his own affections, Some ladies who had seen the pictures of both queens at White Hall gallery, have entertained no small dispute, to which of the two they were to give pre-eminence in point of beauty; each of them having such a plentiful measure of perfections as to entitle either of them to a superiority.

If Queen Ann seemed to have the more lively countenance, Queen Jane was thought to carry it in the exact symmetry which shewed itself in all her features; and what she carried on that side, by that advantage, was overbalanced on the other by a pleasing sprightfulness, which gained as much upon the hearts of all beholders. It was conceived by those great critics in the schools of beauty, that love, which seemed to threaten in the eyes of Queen Jane, did only seem to sport itself in the eyes of Queen Ann; that there was more majesty in the garb of Queen Jane Seimour, and more loveliness in that of Queen Ann Bollen; yet so that the majesty of the one did excel in loveliness, and that the loveliness of the other did exceed in majesty. Sir John Russell, afterwards Earl of Bedford, who had beheld both queens in their greatest glories, did use to say, that “the richer Queen Jane was in clothes, the fairer she appeared; but that the other, the richer she was apparelled, the worse she looked:” FB63 which shews that Queen Ann only trusted to the beauties of nature, and that Queen Jane did sometimes help herself by external ornaments. In a word, she had in her all the graces of Queen Ann, but governed, (if my conjecture doth not fail me), with an evener and more constant temper; or, if you will, she may be said to be equally made up of the two last queens, as having in her all the attractions of Queen Ann, but regulated by the reservedness of Queen Katherine also. 8. It is not to be thought that so many rare perfections should be long concealed from the eye of the King; or that love should not work in him its accustomed effects of desire and hope. In the prosecution whereof he lay so open to discovery, that the Queen could not choose but take notice of it, and intimated her suspicions to him, as appears by a letter of hers in the Scrinia Sacra. FB64 In which she signifies unto him, that by hastening her intended death he would be “left at liberty, both before God and man, to follow his affection, already settled on the party for whose sake she was reduced unto that condition, and whose name she could some while since have pointed to, his grace not being ignorant of her suspicions.” FB65 And it appeared by the event that she was not much mistaken in the mark she aimed at; for scarce had her lamentable death, which happened on the 19th of May, prepared the way for the legitimating of this new affection, but on the morrow after the King was secretly married to Mistress Seimour, and openly shewed her as his Queen in the Whitsun-tide following. FB66 A marriage which made some alteration in the face of the court, in the advancing of her kindred, and discountenancing the dependants of the former Queen; but otherwise produced no change in the affairs of state.

The King proceeded, as before, in suppressing monasteries, extinguishing the Pope’s authority, and altering divers things in the face of the Church; which tended to that reformation which after followed. For on the eighth of June began the parliament, in which there FB67 passed an act for the “final extinguishing of the power of the Popes of Rome,” FB68 cap. 10. And the next day a Convocation of the Bishops and Clergy, managed by Sir Thomas Cromwell, FB69 advanced about that time unto the title of Lord Cromwell of Wimbledon, and made his Majesty’s Vicar General FB70 of all ecclesiastical matters in the realm of England. By whose authority a book was published, after mature debate and deliberation, under the name of “Articles, devised by the King’s Highness,” FB71 in which is mentioned but three Sacraments, that is to say, Baptism, Penance, and the Lord’s Supper.

Besides which book, there were some acts agreed upon in the Convocation, for diminishing the superfluous number of holy-days, especially of such as happened in the time of harvest. FB72 Signified afterwards to the people in certain Injunctions, published in the King’s name, by the new Vicar General, as the first-fruits of his authority. In which it was ordained, amongst other things, that the curates in every parish church should teach the people to say the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, the Ave Mary, and the Ten Commandments in the English tongue. FB73 9. But, that which seemed to make most for the advantage of the new Queen and her posterity, (if it please God to give her any), was the unexpected death of the Duke of Richmond, the King’s natural son, begotten on the body of the Lady Talboi: FB74 so dearly cherished by his father, (having then no lawful issue-male), that in the sixth year of his age, anno 1525, he created him Earl of Nottingham, and not long after Duke of Richmond and Somerset, preferred him to the honorable office of Earl Marshal, elected him into the order of the Garter, made him Lord Admiral of the royal navy, in an expedition against France, and finally affianced him to Mary, the daughter of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, the most powerful subject in the kingdom. FB75 Nor were these all the favors intended to him; the crown itself being designed him by the King, in default of lawful issue to be procreated and begotten of his royal body. For in the Act of the Succession, which passed in the parliament of this year, the crown being first settled upon the issue of this Queen, with the remainder to the King’s issue lawfully begotten on any following wife whatsoever;— there past this clause in favor of the Duke of Richmond, (as it was then generally conceived), that is to say—“That, for lack of lawful heirs of the King’s body to be procreated or begotten, as is afore limited by this act, it should and might be lawful for him to confer the same on any such person or persons, in possession and remainder, as should please his Highness, and according to such estate, and after such manner, form, fashion, order, and condition, as should be expressed, declared, named, and limited, in his said letters patents, or by his last will: the crown to be enjoyed by such person or persons, so to be nominated and appointed, in as large and ample manner as if such person or persons had been his Highness’ lawful heirs to the imperial crown of this realm.” FB76 10. And though it might please God, as it after did, to give the King some lawful issue by this Queen, yet took he so much care for this natural son as to enable himself by another clause in the said act, “to advance any person or persons of his most royal blood, by letters patents, under the great seal, to any title, style, or name, of any estate, dignity, or honor, whatsoever it be, and to give to them, or any of them, any castles, honors, manors, lands, tenements, liberties, franchises, FB77 or other hereditaments, in fee-simple, or fee-tail, or for term of their lives, or the life of any of them.” 11. But all these expectations and provisions were to no effect, the Duke departing this life at the age of 17 years, or thereabouts, within few days after the ending of this session, FB78 that is to say, on the 22nd day of July, anno 1536, FB79 to the extreme grief of the King, and the general sorrow of the court, who had him in a high degree of veneration for his birth and gallantry. 12. It appears also by a passage in this act of parliament, above mentioned, that the King was not only hurried to this marriage by his own affections, but by the “humble petition, and intercession of most of the nobles of his realm;” moved thereunto, as well by the “conveniency of her years,” as in respect that by her “excellent beauty, and pureness of flesh and blood,” (I speak the very words of the act itself) she was “apt (God willing) to conceive issue.” And so accordingly it proved; for on the 12th of October, 1537, about two of the dock in the morning, she was delivered of a young Prince (christened not long after by the name of Edward). But it cost her dear, she dying within two days after, FB80 and leaving this character behind her, of being “the discreetest, humblest, and fairest of all the King’s wives.”

FB81 It hath been commonly reported, and no less generally believed, that that child being come unto the birth, and there wanting natural strength to be delivered, his mother’s body was ripped open to give him a passage into the world, and that she died of the incision in a short time after. FB82 The thing not only so related in our common heralds, but taken up for a constant and undoubted truth by Sir John Hayward, in his History of the Life and Reign of King Edward the Sixth; FB83 which notwithstanding, there are many reasons to evince the contrary. For, first, it is observed by the said Sir John Hayward, that children so brought forth “were by the ancient Romans esteemed fortunate, and commonly proved great enterprisers, with happy success.” And so it is affirmed by Pliny, viz. Auspicatius enecta matte nascuntur , FB84 etc.; called first Coesones, and afterwards more commonly Coesares, as learned writers do aver, quia coeso matris utero in lucem prodiissent , “because their mothers’ bodies had been opened to make passage for them.” Amongst whom they reckon Caeso Fabius, FB85 who was three times consul; Scipio, surnamed Africanus, renowned for his victories in Spain, his vanquishing of Hannibal, and humbling the proud cities of Carthage; and, besides others, Julius Caesar, who brought the whole Roman empire under his command: whereas the life of this Prince was short, his reign full of troubles, and his end generally supposed to be traitorously contrived, without performing any memorable action, either at home or abroad, which might make him pass in the account of a fortunate Prince, or any way successful in the enterprising of heroic actions. FB86 13. Besides, it may appear by two several letters, the one written by the appointment of the Queen herself, immediately after her delivery, the other by one of her physicians, on the morrow after, that she was not under any such extreme necessity, (though questionless she had a hard labor of it), as report hath made her. For, first, the Queen, immediately upon the birth of the Prince, caused this ensuing letter, signed with her own signet, to be sent unto the Lords of the Privy Council, that is to say: “Right trusty and well beloved, we greet you well. And forasmuch as, by the inestimable goodness and grace of Almighty God, we be delivered and brought in child-bed of a Prince, conceived in most lawful matrimony between my Lord the King’s majesty, and us;— doubting not, but that for the love and affection you bear unto us, and to the commonwealth of this realm, this knowledge shall be joyous, and glad tidings unto you, we have thought good to certify you of this same: to the intent ye might not only render unto God condign thanks and praise for so great a benefit, but also continually pray for the long continuance and preservation of the same here in this life, to the honor of God, joy and pleasure of my Lord the King and us, and the universal weal, quiet, and tranquillity of this whole realm. “Given under our signet, at my Lord’s manor of Hampton Court, the twelfth day of October.” FB87 14. But, having a hard labor of it, as before was said, it brought her first into a very high distemper, and after into a very great looseness, which so accelerated the approach of death, that she prepared herself for God, according to the rites of the Church then being. And this appears by a letter of the Queen’s physicians, FB88 directed in these words to the Lords of the Council, viz.: “THESE shall be to advise your Lordships of the Queen’s estate:

Yesterday afternoon she had a natural lax, by reason whereof she began to lighten, and (as it appeared) to amend, and so continued till towards night. All this night she hath been very sick, and doth rather appare than amend. Her confessor hath been with her Grace this morning, and hath done that to his office appertaineth, and is even now preparing to administer to her Grace the sacrament of unction.”

Subscribed “at Hampton Court on Wednesday morning FB89 at eight of the clock, by Thomas Rutland, Robert Karliolen., Edward Bayntun, John Chambre, Priest, William Butt, George Owen.” 15. So died this noble, beautiful, and virtuous Queen, to the general lamentation of all good subjects, and on the twelfth of November following with great solemnity was conveyed to Windsor, and there magnificently interred in the midst of the quire. In memory of whom, I find this epitaph, not unworthy the greatest wits of the present times, to have then been made, viz.: Phoenix Jana jacet nato Phoenice; dolendum est, Saecula Phoenices nulla tulisse duos. FB90 That is to say, Here Jane, a Phoenix, lies, whose death Gave to another Phoenix breath.

Sad case the while, that no age ever Could shew two Phoenixes together. 6. But to return unto the Prince,—It is affirmed with like confidence, and as little truth, that on the 18 th FB91 day of October, then next following, (that being but the sixth day after his birth), he was created Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Chester, etc. In which, though I may easily excuse John Stow and Bishop Godwin, FB92 who report the same; yet I shall never pardon the late Lord Herbert for his incuriosity, as one that had fit opportunities to know the contrary. For, first, Prince Edward was never created Duke of Cornwall, and there was no reason why he should; he being actually Duke of Cornwall at the hour of his birth, according to the entail which was made of that dukedom to the crown, by King Edward the Third. FB93 And, secondly, he was never created Prince of Wales, nor then, nor any time then after following,—his father dying in the midst of the preparations which were intended for the pomp and ceremony of that creation. This truth confessed by Sir John Hayward, in his History of the Life and Reign of this King, FB94 and generally avowed by all our heralds, who reckon none of the children of King Henry the Eighth amongst the Princes of Wales, although all of them successively by vulgar appellation had been so entitled. Which appears more plainly by a particular of the robes and ornaments which were preparing for the day of this solemnity, as they are entered on record in the book called The Catalogue of Honor, published by Thomas Mills of Canterbury, FB95 where it appears also that they were prepared only, but never used, by reason of the King’s death, which prevented the solemnities of it. 17. The ground of this error I conceive first to be taken from John Stow, who, finding a creation of some noblemen, and the making of many knights, to relate to the 18th day of October, supposed it to have been done with reference to the creation of a Prince of Wales; whereas, if I might take the liberty of putting in my own conjecture, I should conceive rather that it was done with reference to the Prince’s christening, FB96 as in like manner we find a creation of three earls, and five to inferior titles, at the christening of the Princess Mary, born to King James after his coming into England, and christened upon Sunday, the fifth of May, 1604. FB97 And I conceive withal, that Sir Edward Seimour, Viscount Beauchamp, the Queen’s elder brother, was then created Earl of Hartford, to make him more capable of being one of the godfathers, or a deputy-godfather at the least, to the royal infant; the court not being then in a condition, by reason of the mournful accident of the late Queen’s death, to shew itself in any extraordinary splendor, as the occasion had required at another time. FB98 Among which persons so advanced to the dignity and degree of knighthood, I find Mr. Thomas Seimour, the Queen’s youngest brother, to be one of the number; of whom we shall have frequent occasion to speak more fully and particularly in the course of this History. No other alteration made in the face of the court; but that Sir William Paulet was made Treasurer, and Sir John Russell Comptroller of his Majesty’s Household, on the said 18th day of October, FB99 (which I conceive to be the day of the Prince’s christening)—both of them being principal actors in the affairs and troubles of the following times. 18. But in the face of the Church there appeared some lines which looked directly towards a Reformation. For, besides the surrendering of divers monasteries, and the executing of some abbots and other religious persons for their stiffness, (if I may not call it a perverseness), in opposing the King’s desires, there are two things of special note which concurred this year, as the prognostics or forerunners of those great events which after followed in his reign. For it appears by a memorial of the famous library of Sir Robert Cotton, FB100 that Grafton now made known to Cromwell the finishing of the English Bible, of which he had printed 1500 at his own proper charges, amounting in the total to £500; desiring stoppage of a surreptitious edition in a less letter, which else would tend to his undoing:—the suit endeared by Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, at whose request Cromwell presents one of the Bibles to the King, and procures the same to be allowed by his authority to be read publicly, without control, in all his dominions; and for so doing be receives a letter of thanks from the said Archbishop, FB101 dated August the 13th of this present year. Nor were the Bishops and Clergy wanting to advance the work, by publishing a certain book in the English tongue, which they entitled “The Institution of a Christian Man;” in which the doctrine of the Sacraments, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Commandments, were opened and expounded more perspicuously, and less abhorrent from the truth, than in former times. By which clear light of holy Scripture, and the principal duties of religion so laid open to them, the people were the better able to discern the errors and corruptions of the Church of Rome, from which by the piety of this Prince they were fully freed. And for a preamble thereunto the Rood of Boxley, commonly called the Rood of Grace, so artificially contrived (by reason of some secret wires in the body or concavities of it), that it could move the eyes, the lips, etc. to the great wonder and astonishment of the common people, was openly discovered for a lewd imposture, and broke in pieces at St. Paul’s Cross, on Sunday the 24th of February; FB102 the Rood of Bermondsey-Abbey in Southwark following the same fortune also within six days. FB103 19. The next year brings an end to almost all the monasteries and religious houses in the realm of England, surrendered into the King’s hands by public instruments, under the seals of all the several and respective convents, and those surrenderies ratified and confirmed by act of parliament. FB104 And this occasionally conduced to the future peace and quiet of this young Prince, by removing out of the way some great pretenders who otherwise might have created to him no small disturbance.

For so it happened, that Henry, Earl of Devonshire, and Marquess FB105 of Exeter, descended from a daughter of King Edward the Fourth, and Henry Pole, Lord Montacute, descended from a daughter of George, Duke of Clarence, the second brother of that Edward, under color of preventing or revenging the dissolution of so many famous abbeys and religious houses, associated themselves with Sir Edward Nevil and Sir Nicholas Carew, in a dangerous practice against the person of the King FB106 and the peace of the kingdom. By whose indictment it appears that it was their purpose and design to destroy the King, and advance Reginald Pole, one of the younger brothers of the said Lord Montacute, (of whom we shall hear more in the course of this History), to the regal throne. Which, how it could consist with the pretensions of the Marquess of Exeter, or the ambition of the Lord Montacute, the elder brother of this Reginald, it is hard to say. But, having the Chronicle of John Speed FB107 to justify me in the truth hereof in this particular, I shall not take upon me to dispute the point. The dangerous practice of which persons did not so much retard the work of Reformation as their execution did advance it. To this year also appertaineth the suppressing of pilgrimages, the defacing of the costly and magnificent shrines of our Lady of Walsingham, Ipswich, Worcester, FB108 etc., and more particularly of Thomas Becket, once Archbishop of Canterbury; this last so rich in jewels of most inestimable value, that two great chests were filled with the spoils thereof, so heavy and capacious, as is affirmed by Bishop Godwin, FB110 that each of them required no fewer than eight men to carry them out of the church, nothing inferior to gold being charged within them. More modestly in this than Sanders, that malicious sycophant, who will have no less than twenty-six wain lead of silver, gold, and precious stones, to be seized into the King’s hands by the spoil of that monument. FB111 Which proceedings so exasperated the Pope then being, that without more delay, by his bull of January 1, he deprived the King of his dominions, FB112 and caused the sentence of his deprivation to be posted up at the towns of Bruges, Tourney, and Dunkirk in Flanders, at Bulloign and Dieppe in France, and St. Andrew’s in Scotland; effecting nothing by the unadvisedness of that desperate counsel, but that the King became more fixed in his resolutions, and more averse from all the thoughts of reconciliation with the see of Rome. 20. The surrenderies of the former year, confirmed by act of parliament in the beginning of this, drew after it the final dissolution of all the rest, none daring to oppose that violent torrent, which seemed to carry all before it; but the abbots of Colchester, Reading, and Glastonbury quarrelled, for which they were severally condemned and executed, FB113 under color of denying the King’s supremacy; FB114 and their rich abbeys seized upon as confiscations to the use of the King, which brought him into such a suspicion of separating from the communion of the Church of Rome, that, for the better vindicating of his integrity as to the particulars, he passed in the same parliament the terrible statute of the Six Articles, which drew so much good blood from his protestant subjects. 21. And being further doubtful in himself what course to steer, he marries FB115 at the same time with the Lady Ann, sister unto the Duke of Cleve, whom not long after he divorceth; advanceth his great minister, Cromwell, (by whom he had made so much havoc of religious houses in all parts of the realm), to the Earldom of Essex, FB116 and sends him headless to his grave within three months after; FB117 takes to his bed the Lady Katharine Howard, FB118 a niece of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, and in short time found cause enough to cut off her head; FB119 not being either the richer in children by so many wives, nor much improved in his revenue by such horrible rapines. In the midst of which Confusions he sets the wheel of Reformation once more going, by moderating the extreme severity of the said statute touching the Six Articles, FB120 abolishing the superstitious usages accustomedly observed on St. Nicholas’ day, FB121 and causing the English Bible of the larger volume to be set up in all and every parish church within ‘the kingdom, for such as were religiously minded to resort unto it. FB122 22. The Prince had now but newly finished the fifth FB123 year of his age, when a fit wife was thought of for him upon this occasion. The Pope, incensed against King Henry, had not long since sententially deprived him of his kingdom, as before was said. And having so done, he made an offer of it to King James the Fifth, then King of the Scots, the only son of Margaret, his eldest sister, wife of James the Fourth. To whom he sent a breve to this effect, viz.: “That he would assist him against King Henry, whom in his consistory he had pronounced to be an heretic, a schismatic, a manifest adulterer, a public murderer, a committer of sacrilege, a rebel, and convict of loesae Majestatis , for that he had risen against his Lord, and therefore that he had justly deprived him of his kingdom, and would dispose the same to him and other Princes, so as they would assist him in the recovery of it.” FB124 23. This could not be so closely carried but that the King had notice of it, who from thenceforth began to have a watchful eye upon the actions of his nephew; sometimes alluring him unto his party, by offering him great hopes and favors, and practicing at other times to weaken and distract him, by animating and maintaining his own subjects against him. At last, to set all right between them, an interview was appointed to be held at York, proposed by Henry, and condescended to by James. But when the day appointed came, the Scots King failed, being deterred from making his appearance there by some popish Prelates, who put into his head a fear of being detained a prisoner, as James the First had been by King Henry the Fourth. FB125 Upon this breach the King makes ready for war, sets out a manifest of the reasons which induced him to it, amongst which he insists especially on the neglect of performing that homage FB126 which anciently had been done, (and still of right ought to be done), to the Kings of England. In prosecuting of which war, the Duke of Norfolk entered Scotland with an army, October 21, anno 1542, wastes and spoils all the country; followed not long after by an army of Scots, consisting of 15,000 men, which in like manner entered England, but were discomfited by the valor and good fortune of Sir Thomas Wharton and Sir William Musgrave, with the help of some few borderers only,—the Scots, upon some discontent, making little resistance. FB127 In which fight, besides many of the Scottish nobility, were taken eight hundred prisoners of inferior note, twenty four pieces of ordnance, some cart-loads of arms, and other booty. 24. On the 19th of December the Scottish Lords, and other of the principal prisoners, to the number of twenty or thereabouts, were brought into London; followed on the third day after with the news of the death of King James, FB128 and the birth of the young Queen his daughter. FB129 This put King Henry on some thoughts of uniting the two crowns in a firm and everlasting league, by the marriage of this infant Queen with his son Prince Edward: in pursuance whereof he sent for the imprisoned Lords, feasted them royally at Whitehall, and dealt so effectually with them by himself and his ministers, that they all severally and jointly engaged themselves to promote this match. FB130 Dismissed into their own country upon these promises and the leaving of hostages, they followed the negotiation with such care and diligence, that on the 29th of June, in the year ensuing (notwithstanding the great opposition made against them by the Queen dowager, Cardinal Beton, and divers others who adhered to the faction of France), they brought the business at the last to this conclusion, viz.: “1. That the Lords of Scotland shall have the education of the Princess for a time, yet so as it might be lawful for our King to send thither a nobleman and his wife, with a family under twenty persons, to wait on her. 2. That at ten years of age she should be brought into England, the contract being first finished by a proxy in Scotland. 3. That within two months after the date hereof, six noble Scots should be given as hostages for the performance of the conditions on their part: and that if any of them died, their number should be supplied. 4. And furthermore it was agreed upon, that the realm of Scotland (by that name) should preserve its laws and rights; and that peace should be made for as long time as was desired, the French being excluded.” FB131 25. But though these capitulations thus agreed on were sent into England, signed and sealed, in the August following, yet the Cardinal and his party grew so strong, that the whole treaty came to nothing; the noblemen who had been prisoners falsifying their faith, and choosing rather, (the Lord Kenneth, FB132 Earl of Cassiles, excepted), to leave their hostages to King Henry’s mercy than to put themselves into his power. Provoked therewith, the King denounceth war against them, and, knowing that they depended chiefly upon the strength of France, he pieceth with the Emperor Charles the Fifth, and proclaimeth war against the French. FB133 Following the war against both kingdoms, he causeth many inroads to be made into Scotland, wasting and harassing that poor country; and with a royal army passeth over into France, where he made himself master of the strong town of Bulloign, with the forts about it, into which he made his royal entry, Sept. 25, 1544. FB134 The rest of the King’s life spent in continual action against both nations, in which the enemies had the worst, though not without some loss to the English also; the poor Scots paying so dearly for their breach of faith, that no year passed in which their country was not wasted and their ships destroyed. Toward the charges of which wars, the King obtained a grant in parliament of all chantries, colleges, hospitals, and free chapels, with the lands thereunto belonging, to be united to the crown. FB135 But, dying before he had took the benefit of it, he left that part of the spoil to such of his ministers who had the managing of affairs in his son’s minority. 26. In the meantime the Prince, having attained unto the age of six years, was taken out of the hands of his women, and committed to the tuition of Mr. John Cheeke, whom he afterwards knighted and advanced him to the provostship of King’s College in Cambridge, and Dr. Richard Cox, whom afterwards he preferred to the deanery of Westminster, FB136 and made chief Almoner. These two, being equal in authority, employed themselves to his advantage in their several kinds,—Dr. Cox for knowledge of divinity, philosophy, and gravity of manners; Mr. Cheeke for eloquence in the Greek and Latin tongues. Besides which two he had some others to instruct him in the modern languages, and thrived so well amongst them all, that in short time he perfectly spake the French tongue, and was able to express himself significantly enough in the Italian, Greek, and Spanish4.

And as for Latin, he was such an early proficient in it, that before he was eight years old he is said to have written the ensuing letter to the King his father; seconding the same with another to the Earl of Hartford, as he did that also with a third to the Queen Katharine Parr, whom his father had taken to wife, July the 12th, 1543. And though these letters may be used as good evidences of his great proficiency, with reference to the times in which he lived; yet in our days—in which either the wits of men are sooner ripe, or the method of teaching more exact and facile they would be found to contain nothing which is more than ordinary. Now his letter to the King—(referring the reader for the other two, unto Fox and Fuller) FB138 — it bears date on the 27th day of September, when he wanted just a fortnight of eight years old, and is this that followeth.

PRINCE EDWARD’S EPISTLE TO THE KING, FB139 SEPTEMBER 27, 1545.

LITERAE meae semper habent unum argumentum, Rex nobilissime atque pater illustrissime, id est, in omnibus epistolis ago tibi gratias pro beneficentia tua erga me maxima; si enim saepius multo ad to literas exararem, nullo tamen quidem modo potui pervenire officio literarum ad magnitudinem benignitatis tuae erga me. Quis enim potuit compensare beneficia tua erga me? Nimirum nullus qui non est tam magnus Rex ac nobills Princeps ac tu es, cujusmodi ego non sum. Quamobrem pietas tua in me multo gratior est mihi, quod facts mihi quae nullo modo compensare possim; FB140 sed tamen adnitar, et faciam quod in me est, ut placeam Majestati [tuae], atque precabor Deum, ut diu to servet incolumem. Vale, Rex nobilissime, [atque pater illustrissime.] Majestati tuae observantissimus FB141 filius, EDVARDUS PRINCEPS.

Hatfeldiae, FB142 vicesimo septimo Septemb. 27. For a companion at his book, or rather for a proxy to bear the punishment of such errors as either through negligence or inadvertency were committed by him, he had one Barnaby FitsPatrick,—the son, FB142 (if I conjecture aright,) of that Patrick whom I find amongst the witnesses to King Henry’s last will and testament, as also amongst those legatees which are therein mentioned, the King bequeathing him the legacy of one hundred marks. But whether I hit right or not, most probable it is that he had a very easy substitution of it; the harmlessness of the Prince’s nature, the ingenuity of his disposition, and his assiduity at his book, freeing him for the most part from such corrections to which other children at the school are most commonly subject. Yet, if it sometimes happened, as it seldom did, that the servant suffered punishment for his master’s errors, it is not easy to affirm whether FitsPatrick smarted more for the fault of the Prince, or the Prince conceived more grief for the smart of FitsPatrick. FB143 Once I am certain that the Prince entertained such a real estimation of him, that, when he came unto the crown, he acquainted him by letter with the sufferings of the Duke of Somerset, FB144 instructed and maintained him for his travels in France, endowed him with fair lands in Ireland, (his native country), and finally made him Baron of Upper Ossery, which honorable title he enjoyed till the time of his death, in the latter end of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, at what time he died a zealous and religious Protestant.

FB145 One thing I must not pretermit, to shew the extraordinary piety of this hopeful Prince in the days of his childhood, when, being about to take down something which seemed to be above his reach, one of his fellows proffered him a bossed-plated bible, to stand upon, and heighten him for taking that which he desired. Which, when he perceived to be a bible, with holy indignation he refused it, and sharply reprehended him that made the offer. FB146 A strong assurance of that dear esteem and veneration in which he held that sacred book in his riper years. 28. Having attained the age of nine, there were great preparations made for his solemn investiture in the Principality of Wales, together with the Earldoms of Chester and Flint, as dependents on it. Toward which pomp I find a provision to be made of these ornaments and habiliments following; FB147 that is to say, “First, an honorable habit, viz. a robe of purple velvet, having in it about eighteen ells, more or less, garnished about with a fringe of gold, and lined with ermines; a surcoat, or inner gown, having in it about fourteen ells of velvet, of like color, fringe, and fur; laces, buttons, and tassels (as they call them), ornaments made of purple silk and gold; a girdle of silk, to gird his inner gown; a sword, with a scabbard made of purple silk and gold, garnished with the like girdle he is girt withal, thereby shewing him to be Duke of Cornwall by birth, and not by creation. A cap of the same velvet that his robe is of, furred with ermines, with laces and a button, and tassels on the crown thereof, made of Venice gold: a garland, or a little coronet of gold, to be put on his head, together with his cap. A long golden verge, or rod, betokening his government. A ring of gold also, to be put on the third finger of his left hand, whereby he was to declare his marriage made with equity and justice.” FB148 But scarce were these provisions ready, but the King’s sickness brought a stop, and his death shortly after put an end, to those preparations; the expectation of a principality being thereby changed to the possession of a crown. 29. For the King, having long lived a voluptuous life, and indulgent too much unto his palate, was grown so corpulent, or rather so overgrown with an unwieldy burden of flesh, that he was not able to go up stairs, from one room to another, but as he was hoised up by an engine: FB149 which filling his body with foul and foggy humors, and those humors falling into his leg, in which he had an ancient and uncured sore, they’ there began to settle to an inflammation, which did both waste his spirits and increase his passions. In the midst of which distempers, it was not his least care to provide for the safety of his son, and preserve the succession of the crown to his own posterity. At such time as he had married Queen Anne Bollen, he procured his daughter Mary to be declared illegitimate by act of parliament; the like he also did by his daughter Elizabeth, FB151 when he had married Queen Jane Seimour, settling the crown upon his issue by the said Queen Jane. But having no other issue by her but Prince Edward only, and none at all by any of his following wives, he thought it a high point of prudence, (as indeed it was), to establish the succession with more stays than one, and not to let it rest on so weak a staff as a child of little more than nine years of age. For which cause he procured an act of parliament, in the thirty-fifth year of his reign, in which it is declared, “That in default of issue of the said Prince Edward, the crown should be entailed to the King’s daughter, the Lady Mary, and the heirs of her body, and for default thereof to the King’s daughter, the Lady Elizabeth, and the heirs of her body, and for lack of such issue, to such as the King by his letters patents or his last will in writing should limit.” FB152 30. So that he had three children by three several wives, two of them born of questionable marriages, yet all made capable by this act of having their several turns in the succession, as it after proved. And though a threefold cord be not easily broken, yet he obtained further power for disposing the crown, if their issue failed; whereof, being now sick, and fearing his approaching end, he resolved to make such use, in laying down the state of the succession to the crown imperial, as was more agreeable to his private passions than the rules of justice; which appeared plainly by his excluding of the whole Scottish line, descended from the Lady Margaret, his eldest sister, from all hopes thereof; unless perhaps it may be said that the Scottish line might be sufficiently provided for by the marriage of the young Queen with the Prince his son, and that it was the Scots’ own fault, if the match should fail. 31. This care being over, and the succession settled by his last will and testament, bearing date the 28th of December, FB153 being a full month before his death, he began to entertain some fears and jealousies touching the safety of the Prince, whom he should leave unto a factious and divided court, who were more like to serve their own turns by him than advance his interest. His brother-in-law, the Duke of Suffolk, (in whom he most confided), died not long before; FB154 the kindred of Queen Jane were but new in court, of no authority in themselves, and such as had subsisted chiefly by the countenance which she had from him. As they could contribute little to the defense of the Prince’s person, and the preservation of his right, so there were some who had the power,—(and who could tell but that they also had the will?)—to change the whole frame of his design, and take the government to themselves. Amongst which there was none more feared than the noble Lord Henry, Earl of Surrey, the eldest son of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, strong in alliance and dependence, of a revenue not inferior to some foreign Kings, and that did derive his pedigree from King Edward the First. The Earl himself, beheld in general by the English as the chief ornament of the nation; highly esteemed for his chivalry, his affability, his learning, and whatsoever other graces might either make him amiable in the eyes of the people, or formidable in the sight of a jealous, impotent, and wayward Prince. Against him, therefore, and his father, there were crimes devised, their persons put under an arrest, their arraignment prosecuted at the Guildhall in London, where they both received the sentence of death; FB155 which the Earl suffered on the Towerhill, on the 19th of January, the old Duke being reserved by the King’s death, (which followed within nine days after) for more happy times.

Which brings into my mind a sharp but shrewd character of this King, occurring in the writings of some, but more common in the mouths of many, that is to say, that he “never spared woman in his lust, nor man in his anger.” For proof of which last it is observed that he brought unto the block two Queens, two noble ladies, one cardinal declared; of dukes, marquesses, earls, and the sons of earls, no fewer than twelve; lords and knights eighteen; of abbots and priors thirteen; monks and religious persons about seventy seven; FB156 and many more of both religions, to a very great number. So as it cannot be denied that he had too much, (as all great monarchs must have somewhat), of the tyrant in him. And yet I dare not say with Sir Walter Raleigh, “that if all the patterns of a merciless Prince had been lost in the world, they might have been found in this one King;” FB157 some of his executions being justifiable by the very nature of their crimes, others to be imputed to the infelicity of the times in which he lived, and may be ascribed unto reasons of state, the exigencies whereof are seldom squared by the rule of justice. 32. His infirmity, and the weakness which it brought upon him, having confined him to his bed, he had a great desire to receive the Sacrament; and being persuaded to receive it in the easiest posture, sitting or raised up in his bed, he would by no means yield unto it, but caused himself to be taken up, placed in his chair, in which he heard the greatest part of the Office, till the Consecration, and then received the blessed Sacrament on his knees, as at other times, saying withal, as Sanders FB158 doth relate the story, “that if he did not only cast himself upon the ground, but even under it also, he could not give unto the Sacrament the honor which was due unto it.” The instant of his death approaching, none of his servants, though thereunto desired by his physicians, durst acquaint him with it. FB159 Till at last Sir Anthony Denny undertook that ungrateful office, which the King entertaining with less impatience than was looked for from him, gave order that Archbishop Cranmer should be presently sent for. But, the Archbishop being then at his house in Croydon, seven miles from Lambeth, it was so long before he came, that he found him speechless. Howsoever, applying himself to the King’s present condition, and discoursing to him on this point, that salvation was to be obtained only by faith in Christ, he desired the King, that, if he understood the effect of his words, and believed the same, he would signify as much by some sign or other; which the King did, by wringing him gently by the hand, and within short time after he gave up the ghost; FB160 when he had lived fifty-five years, seven months, and six days over; of which he had reigned thirty-seven years, nine months, and six days also. 33. Having brought King Henry to his death, we must next see in what estate he left the kingdom to his son, with reference to the condition of affairs both at home and abroad. Abroad, he left the Pope his most bitter enemy, intent on all advantages for the recovery of the power and jurisdiction which had been exercised in England by his predecessors; and all the Princes of his party, in Germany, Italy, and elsewhere, either in action or design concurring with him. The protestant Kings and Princes he had disobliged, by repudiating the Lady Ann of Cleve, and the precipitated death of Cromwell, upon whose power and favor with him they did most rely. But nothing did more alienate their affections from him than the persecution raised at home upon the terrible statute of the Six Articles, before remembered; by which they saw themselves condemned and executed, in the persons of those who suffered for the same religion which themselves professed. And as for the two great Kings of France and Spain, he had so carried himself between them, that he was rather feared of both than beloved by either of them. The realms and seignories of Spain, (except Portugal only), together with the kingdoms of Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia, and the estates belonging to the house of Burgundy in the Belgic provinces, were all united in the person of Charles the Fifth; to which he added by his own proper power and valor, the dukedoms of Millain and Gulldress, the earldom of Zutphen, with the estates of Groiningen, Utrecht, and Over-yssel. And on the other side, the French Kings were not only in the quiet possession of those goodly territories, (Normandy, Guienne, and the rest), which anciently belonged to the Kings of England; but lately had impatronized themselves of the dukedoms of Burgoine and Bretagne, and the earldom of Provence, all meeting in the person of King Francis the First. Of which two great and puissant Princes, the first being resolved to admit no equal, and the second to acknowledge no superior, they endeavored by all ways and means imaginable to subdue each other, whereby the conqueror might attain in time to the empire of Europe. It was therefore King Henry’s chiefest care, as it was his interest, to keep the scales so even between them, that neither of them should preponderate, or weigh down the other, to the endangering of the rest of the Princes of Christendom: which he performed with so great constancy and courage, as made him in effect the arbitrer at all times between them. FB161 So as it may be truly affirmed of him, that he sat at the helm, and steered the great affairs of Christendom to what point he pleased. But then withal, as his constant and continual standing to this maxim of state made him friend to neither, so he was suspected of them both; both having also their particular animosities against his person and proceedings. The Emperor irreconcilably incensed against him for the injury done unto his aunt, from whom he had caused himself to be divorced; the French King no less highly enraged by the taking of Bulloign, for which, though the King had shuffled up a peace with France, FB162 Prince Edward shall be called to a sober reckoning, when he least looks for it. 34. To look to matters near at home, we find the Scots exasperated by his annual inroads, but more by his demanding the long-neglected duty of homage to be performed from that kingdom to the crown of England: the Irish, on the other side of the sea, being kept under by strong hand, but standing upon no good terms of affection with him; the executing of the young Earl of Kildare and five of his uncles at one time FB163 being fresh in memory, and neither forgotten nor forgiven by the rest of the clans. And as for England itself, the people were generally divided into schisms and factions; some being too stiff in their old Mumpsimus , as others no less busy in their new Sumpsimus , as he used to phrase it. FB164 The treasures of the crown exhausted by prodigal gifts, and his late chargeable expedition against the French; the lands thereof charged with rents and pensions granted to abbots, priors, and all sorts of religious persons, some of which remained payable, and were paid accordingly, till the time of King James; FB165 and, which was worst of all, the money of the realm so embased FB166 and mixed, that it could not pass for current amongst foreign nations, to the great dishonor of the kingdom, and the loss of the merchant. For though an infinite mass of jewels, treasure in plate, and ready money, and an incredible improvement of revenue had accrued unto him by such an universal spoil and dissolution of religious houses, yet was he little or nothing the richer for it. Insomuch that in the year 1543, being within less than seven years after the general suppression of religious houses, he was fain to have recourse for moneys to his houses of parliament, by which he was supplied after an extraordinary manner; the clergy at the same time giving him a subsidy of 6s. in the pound, to be paid out of all their spiritual promotions, poor stipendiary priests paying each 6s. 8d. to increase the sum. FB167 Which also was so soon consumed, that the next year he pressed his subjects to a benevolence, for carrying on his war with France and Scotland; FB168 and in the next obtained the grant for all chantries, hospitals, colleges, and free chapels within the realm, though he lived not to enjoy the benefit of it, as before was said. FB169 35. Most true it is, that it was somewhat of the latest before he cast his eye on the lands of bishoprics, though there were some who thought the time long till they fell upon them. Concerning which there goes a story, that, after the court-harpies had devoured the greatest part of the spoil which came by the suppression of abbeys, they began to seek some other way to satiate that greedy appetite which the division of the former booty had left unsatisfied, and for the satisfying whereof they found not any thing so necessary as the Bishops’ lands. This to effect, Sir Thomas Seimour is employed as the fittest man,—as being in favor with the King, as brother to Queen Jane, his most and best beloved wife; and having the opportunity of access unto him, as being one of the gentlemen of his privy chamber. And he, not having any good affection to Archbishop Cranmer, desired that the experiment should be tried on him, and therefore took his time to inform the King that the Lord of Canterbury did nothing but fell his woods, letting long leases for great fines, and making havoc of the royalties of his archbishopric, to raise thereby a fortune to his wife and children; withal he did acquaint the King that the Archbishop kept no hospitality, in respect of such a large revenue; and that in the opinion of many wise men it was more meet for the Bishops to have a sufficient yearly stipend out of the exchequer, than to be so encumbered with temporal royalties, being so great a hindrance to their studies and pastoral charge, and that the said lands and royalties, being taken to his Majesty’s use, would afford him, (besides the said annual stipends), a great yearly revenue. The King soon smelt out the device, and shortly after sent him on an errand to Lambeth, about dinner-time, where he found all the tables in the great hall to be very bountifully furnished, the Archbishop himself accompanied at dinner with divers persons of quality, his table exceeding plentifully served, and all things answerable to the port of so great a prelate: wherewith the King being made acquainted at his coming back, he gave him such a rattle for his false information, and the design which visibly depended on it, that neither he nor any other of the courtiers durst stir any further in the suit, whilst King Henry lived. FB170 36. But the King, considering further of it, could not think fit that such a plausible proposition as taking to himself the lands of the Bishops should be made in vain. Only he was resolved to prey further off, and not to fall upon the spoil too near the court, for fear of having more partakers in the booty than might stand with his profit. And to this end he deals with Holgate, preferred not long before from Llandaff to the see of York; from whom he takes at one time no fewer than seventy manors and townships of good old rents, giving him in exchange, to the like yearly value, certain impropriations, pensions, tithes, and portions of tithes, (but all of an extended rent), which had accrued unto the crown by the fall of abbeys.

Which lands he laid by act of parliament to the duchy of Lancaster. For which, see 37 Henry VIII. cap. 16. He dismembered also by these acts, certain manors from the see of London, in favor of Sir William Petre; FB171 and others in the like manner from the see of Canterbury, but not without some reasonable comp