THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES THE DAWN OF THE ENGLISH REFORMATION. THE DAWN ENGLISH REFORMATION ITS FRIENDS AND FOES. BY HENRY WORSLEY, M.A., Vicar of Ash/ord Bowdler. LONDON : ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW, EC. 1890. [All rights reserved.] 6/e air MRS. CAROLINE TARRATT, OF SUFFOLK HALL, CHELTENHAM, THE KINDEST AND MOST CONSIDERATE OF FRIENDS, AND THUS A GENTLE CRITIC, THESE BIOGRAPHIES OF THE MOST IMPORTANT EPOCH IN ENGLISH HISTORY, WITH THE UTMOST ESTEEM AND GRATITUDE, JUe inscribe*). 807373 PREFACE. This story of the Early English Reformation, biographically told, is partly in continuation of a plan formed now some years ago, and commenced by the biography of Martin Luther. The great Saxon reformer occupied among his German fellow- countrymen a position similar to that which was occupied by Zuingli and Calvin successively among the Swiss. These theologians, gifted with large mental capacity, and living amongst those who looked up to them for instruction and guidance, exerted and maintained an authority to which it is in vain to seek a parallel in the religious development of England at the period of the Reformation. The English Reformation was not marked by the striking ascendency of any one individual. Bilney, ' the first framer of Cambridge in the knowledge of Christ,' as Foxe describes him, was the spiritual father of many who embraced a more Scriptural creed. He was the means of converting, besides others, Hugh Latimer ; and he was probably a source, at least of valuable assistance, to Tyndale. But ' little Bilney's ' warm heart was always much in advance of his somewhat clouded head. The most conspicuous figure in the ranks of the early English Reformers was Tyndale — the successful translator of Scripture, the author of the most useful religious tracts of the time, and the spiritual father of John Fryth. Inferior to none as a Christian hero, he did not possess the great powers or exalted viii PREFACE. influence of the chief Continental reformers. He lived and laboured in compulsory exile from his own country. The career of Fryth was cut short at its highest promise by his martyrdom — an event, however, of infinite moment to the cause, at a crisis of hesitancy and danger. The consistent intrepidity of Latimer, only matured after some years of spiritual progress and experience, belongs to a later date. Thus it has been judged most consonant to the genius of the English Reformation — in some important respects its peculiarly happy genius — instead of detailing the career of one individual, to interweave a series of biographies of the principal actors and writers in connection with that great religious and social revolution ; not neglecting to portray its virulent and able opponents, as well as the zealous champions of the movement. By this means the Reformation will be made the centre — as no doubt in real fact it was — of the stirrin g historical events of that memorable epoch whence modern history takes its rise. The history of the religious struggle affords some insight into the condition of all ranks of society at a momentous crisis, the lowest as well as the highest. The English Reformation leavened with its influence the whole social structure. But its earliest partisans and sturdiest advocates issued from the obscure walks of life. Wealthy landowners, courtiers, states- men, were concerned rather with the outward changes, the development into legal enactments, of the results of the new vital principles which had gained acceptance ; but these prin- ciples themselves were cherished and diffused chiefly by men and women belonging to the humbler grades. From such adherents to truth, too often down-trodden, despised and persecuted, the regeneration of society proceeded primarily ; and only secondarily from thrones, convocations, and senates. In all ages the Word of God, under Divine guidance, has been near the root of all that is best in human progress; PREFACE. ix but such was signally and manifestly the case at the era of the Reformation. The biographical treatment of the subject is in accordance with the mode in which the Almighty Himself is generally pleased to carry out His designs on the great theatre of human life. Individuals raised up by God from time to time, and educated by His Providence to their appointed task, proclaim the truths they are commissioned to teach, and animate and train their contemporaries, inspiring them with their own convictions ; and thus stamp their impress, first on their own day, and then on posterity. History shows this by numerous examples, both in ancient and modern times. But especially does this rule hold good as regards religious systems, and the results which follow from them. Moreover, such a method of individual treatment is after the highest model— the literary precedent of the Inspired Volume itself. The sacred account of the vicissitudes and progress of the chosen race, the germ and centre of true religion for the whole globe, starts with the personal careers of Abraham, Jacob and Joseph. Subsequently Moses, Joshua, Samuel, and other appointed instruments take their places conspicuously upon the canvas. In the New Testament the biographical element appears yet more prominently. ' The Gospels,' says Archbishop Whately, ' are not merely historical, but strictly biographical.' The earliest ecclesiastical history also, the Acts of the Apostles, deals chiefly with individuals. Even after the astonishing growth and spread of Christianity in the world, which its earlier records imply chiefly by track- ing individual careers, its latter pages trace with more exact detail the missionary labours of one eminent teacher. It may be well to add that in other respects also the inspired writings are suggestive by their characteristic ex- cellences. Not only are their pages made more emphatic by pregnant brevity and marvellous word-painting, but facts are x PREFACE. never disguised, nor are characters ever misrepresented. The unvarnished plainness of truth is everywhere — truth in sovereign supremacy. The best men are depicted as they were : their infirmities not extenuated, their excellences not exaggerated. The good points — if such are far from amounting to redeeming qualities — of the worst, or most mistaken, are yet never denied, nor are they veiled in obscurity, or kept even partially out of sight. The following pages have not been indited in any spirit of stinted attachment to our Protestant Reformation. With our Protestantism our national position of wealth, power, and influence is essentially bound up. But such a conviction, in its amplest strength, is no bar to the genuine and outspoken admiration of whatever was good and noble in the defenders of a long-established sacerdotal system, fast tottering to its fall at the touch of light and thought. Of necessity the general history of the period has been succinctly presented to the reader — so far, at least, as its incidents have a bearing, more or less direct, upon the course of the Anglican Reformation. And here, too, in tracing the sequence of events of world-wide moment, the elucidation of personal character has been uniformly kept in prominent view. It may be explained that the letters ' P.S.' and ' C.S.' denote respectively the publications of the Parker and Camden Societies, as the letters B.M. stand for the British Museum. The State Papers have been public property for many years, and their publication does honour to the memory ot Sir Robert Peel. To these a very important supplement has been added more recently. The initial ' B.' refers to this comprehensive series of Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII., which has been published under the direction of the Master of the Rolls, on a plan originated and pursued through several volumes by the PREFACE. xi late Rev. J. S. Brewer, and continued since his decease by Mr. James Gairdner. For faithful authentic history these calendared letters and documents possess a value beyond price. With the collateral help of the calendar of the Spanish Letters, Despatches, and State Papers — referred to under the abbreviation ' Sp.' — and of the calendar of the Venetian State Papers and Manuscripts — referred to under the abbreviation ' Ven.' — together with other contemporary writings, they serve to throw a new, vivid and real light both on transactions and on individual character. It has not been deemed necessary to evidence the correctness of all the statements made by citing the numbers or pages of all the passages consulted in the papers and documents mentioned. Had this been done the notes must have become inordinately lengthy. Nor has it been judged necessary always to cite other authorities — such as Foxe or Hallam, or other well-known authors — for statements that may be verified with very little pains. The notes have not been relegated to the end of the book, but placed at the foot of the page, inas- much as they often lend force or clearness to the text. The descriptions of places, houses, churches, etc., are for the most part the jottings down on the spot, or the reminis- cences of a visit or visits of exploration. Grateful acknowledgments are rendered to those who have kindly contributed assistance — highly appreciated always — occasionally given at the cost of some time and trouble. May the work, under God's blessing, prosper and be useful ; and may the reader derive from its perusal some portion, at least, of the pleasure which its composition has afforded to the writer ! CONTENTS. BOOK I. THE NEED OF THE REFORMATION. — THE CHURCH IN THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. PAOE One-sided sacramentalism — Presumptuous sacerdotalism — A priest only a man — The Scriptures in the bondage of an ancient tongue — Made nugatory by subtleties — Moral declension — Scandalous Pontiffs — Reginald Pecock — Clerical immunities — Money com- pensation for clerical crimes — Clerical and lay conflict — Hunne's case — Priestly celibacy — Degeneracy of the f riars— The monastic system — Pluralities and absenteeism — Venality — Papal preten- sions — National safeguards — A revolution impending — The dis- covery of gunpowder — The invention of printing — Apparel of the period - - - - - - 1 BOOK II. PREPARATION. I. — THE CLASSICAL REVIVAL AT OXFORD. Effects of the capture of Constantinople — Modern life opening — In- fluence of Greek literature — Grammar schools — Oxford Greek scholars — The old Latin Grammar — John Colet — Thomas More — Colet visits Italy — Colet and Erasmus — Colet founds St. Paul's School — Thomas Wolsey — -The Trojans — John Fisher — Erasmus at Cambridge - - - - - - 21 II.— CAMBRIDGE GOSPELLERS. Thomas Bilney — George Stafford — The Augustine Priory and Robert Barnes — Hugh Latimer — The Cambridge Brethren — The White Horse — Richard Bayfield — John Lambert — Bilney's self-denying labours - - - - - - 37 xiv CONTENTS. III. — THOMAS WOLSEY. PAGE The three great cardinals — Wolsey and Becket — Wolsey patronized by the court — A favourite with Prince Henry — Dean, bishop, cardinal, legate — Also lord chancellor — His appearanee and gifts — His national policy — His judicial improvements — His sense of Church needs — Sanguine aims — Beneficence to Oxford — Cardinal College — The Cambridge colony — Clerk and Dalaber — Wolsev's chief merit - - - - -44 BOOK III. THE ENGLISH NEW TESTAMENT. I. — "WILLIAM TYNDALE'S PREPARATION. The supposed spot of his birth — Hunt's Court and the Tyndale memorial — Slimbridge probably his birthplace — His three brothers — His family Wycliffe's followers— The county of Gloucester — John de Trevisa — Tyndale at Magdalen Hall — His migration to Cambridge — His means of university maintenance — His ordination - - - - - 55 II. — TYNDALE AT LITTLE SODBURY. The manor-house — Its dining-hall — Sir John and Lady Walsh — Tyndale's reason for translating Scripture — His patrons vexed by clerical complaints — The ' Enchiridion ' of Erasmus — Tyndale before the chancellor — Doctor Parker rates him finely— The familiar doctor's counsel — Tyndale defies the pope — The hubbub increases — The object of life settled — Tyndale leaves Sodbury for London - - - - - - 63 III.— TYNDALE IN LONDON. Tyndale makes application to Tunstal — His rebuff a real blessing — Humphrey Monmouth— Tyndale's manner of life with Mon- mouth — His experience of London — The Christian Brotherhood — Wycliffe's efforts not lost — The Coiaman Street congregation — John Fryth — England barred against God's Word — Tyndale driven to a Free City of the Hanse League — He sails for Ham- burg - - - - - - - 71 IV. — THE ENGLISH NEW TESTAMENT PRINTING. Tyndale at Hamburg — He proceeds to Wittenberg — Contemporary writers all agreed — Circumstances and Tyndale's character con- firmatory — He employs the third edition of Erasmus's Testa- ment — His helps for the work — The paramount influence of his version — William Roye — The Gospels of Matthew and Mark CONTENTS. xv PAGE — Arrangement with Quentel — John Cochlseus — The flight to Worms — The octavo and quarto editions — The sailing of the vessel for England — The various editions and revisions of the work - - - - - - 79 V. — THE NEW TESTAMENT EXPECTED. Warnings reach the King and hierarchy — The ' still Christmas ' — Wolsey fully employed — Indiscretion of Gospellers — West of Ely and Latimer — Christmas Eve, 1525, at Cambridge — Barnes succumbs — The auto-da-fe at St. Paul's — Sequel of the Cam- bridge disorders — Bilney recants— George Joye escapes — Latimer before Wolsey — Latimer licensed by the cardinal - DO VI. — ENGLAND'S WELCOME TO HER NEW TESTAMENT. The Flemish clothiers — The colporteurs — Fyshe and Necton — The popular welcome of God's Word — The episcopal meeting — The burning of Christ's Testament — The bonfire furthered truth — Episcopal injunctions — The royal warning — Blind Old Nixe — Mandate to seize Roye and Tyndale — More's pen in request — The persecution of 1528 — Maitland's strictures on the Puritan writers —Honey Lane Church and its Parson — Garratt visits Oxford — Cardinal College Testament distributors — Dalaber and Garratt — The three heads of colleges — Prior Dunstan — Dalaber's troubles — Astrology at fault — Garratt apprehended — Higdon and Longland suggest mercy — Wolsey unrelenting — Clerk's death — The commiseration of the townspeople— The future careers of some of those spared — God against the popish hierarchy - - - - - PG VII. — THE 'WICKED MAMMON' AND THE 'OBEDIENCE.' Tyndale and Roye separate — Jerome Barlow — The ' Burying of the Mass' — 'Railing rhymes' — Tyndale at Marburg — The Land- grave's university — The ' Wicked Mammon ' — Tyndale deeply influenced by Luther — The sum of Christianity — The 'True Obedience of a Christian Man ' — The ' passive obedience ' of Tyndale and the age — Change anticipated — Anne Boleyn and the ' Obedience ' — John Fryth joins Tyndale — Amendment of their Eucharistic views — More's statement incorrect — The Mar- burg Conference - - - - - 111 VIII. — MORE, HIS FAMILY AND MANOR-HOUSE. The two champions — Chelsea manor-house — Sir Thomas and his family ...... 123 IX. — MORE'S EARLY AND LATER OPINIONS. The ' Utopia ' — More's advanced speculations — His religious opinions change — More and Luther compared — The cause celebre — Collateral influences — More as a judge — His bitterness against CONTENTS. [•AGE heretics — His self-defence — Its omissions — Yet More gentler than many others - - - - - 128 X. — THE CONTROVERSY. The ' Dialogue ' — More on Tyndale's version — His suggestions for an Authorized Version — Tyndale's ' Answer ' — Opposed defini- tions of the 'Church ' — Tyndale's 'juggling terms'— Our recent Revised Yersion — More's 'Confutation' — More and Tyndale compared as writers — Chelsea Old Church — More's cenotaph — The acerbity of religious differences — Tyndale's monuments and monument ------ 139 BOOK IV. SEPARATION FROM ROME. I. — ENGLAND'S FOREIGN RELATIONS. God's providence in behalf of England — The marriage of Arthur and Katharine — Arthur's decease — Isabella's fears — The dis- pensation granted — Prince Henry — Henry married to Katharine — Domestic bereavements — Henry's military ambition — The Holy League — Peace with France — Mary Tudor, bride to Louis XII. — The many crowns of Charles — Francis and Charles rivals — Wolsey's policy — Charles wins Henry and Wolsey — Henry's book — Wolsey tricked by Charles — Great danger of Francis— Bourbon's failure — The audacity of Francis — Secret negotiations — Francis made prisoner at Pa via — Charles revealed in success — Seizure of De Praet's despatches — Wolsey and Charles — The emperor's magnificent prospects— The 'amicable loan' — Charles declines the Princess Mary — Wolsey draws nearer to France — The Italian League — The true portrait of Francis — The fraternal alliance — The motives of the new brothers — The French alliance unpopular in England — The sack o£ Rome — Clement's flight — The imperial troops in their success without generals — The emperor's protestations — War declared by the allied sovereigns - 151 II. — THE KING'S CONSCIENCE. Wolsey 's embassy into France — Its objects — His brilliant train — His instructions to his followers — His glory overcast — Henry's matrimonial scruples — Wolsey's crafty solicitations — The ques- tion submitted to authorities — The origin of the king's scruples — Henry's yearning for a male successor — Anne's person and antecedents — Henry's love-letters — Wolsey's opposition sur- mounted — Clement released — Knight's confidential mission — Wolsey resumes negotiations with Clement — The 'Commission' drawn up by him — The strange terms of the ' Dispensation ' — — Clement's perplexity — Gardiner and Fox at Orbieto— Wolsey's CONTENTS. PAGE commendation of Anne — Element and Gardiner — The 'Dis- pensation' and a 'General Commission' signed — Henry separates from Katharine— The character of Anne — The character of Henry - - - - - - 177 III. — PREPARATIONS FOR THE TRIAL. The new Abbess of "Wilton — -Wolsey's forebodings — The legate Campeggio — Sickness at court — Campeggio procrastinates — Clement's policy determined by events — Henry and Katharine alike obstinate — Katharine 'confesses ' to Campeggio — The inter- posed Brief — Katharine's demeanour censured — Was the Brief genuine? — Reasons for believing it spurious— Clement will not openly repudiate it — Campano's mission — Rumour of Clement's death — Wolsey's unstable position — Discussions about the Brief superseded — Speed ! speed ! - IV. — THE TRIAL. Henry and Katharine before the legates — A scene oft doubted proved true — Fisher courts martyrdom — Katharine's procura- tion — Clement and Campeggio in secret understanding — Both Legates distrusted — Was Wolsey a traitor to Henry? — The sentence of prorogation — The 'Ladies' Peace' — Its terms — Henry's matrimonial hopes no brighter — The Barcelona com- pact — The year 1529 memorable — The advocation and suspen- sion — Wolsey warns Clement — Campeggio departs — Roman insolence disgusts the English - - - - 215 V. — NEW MINISTERS. The mysterious document— The cardinals at Grafton — Wolsey's downfall certain — Wolsey sued in the Court of King's Bench — His prudent submission — Francis endeavours his reinstatement in vain — The precautions of his enemies — Charles Suffolk — Thomas Norfolk — Stephen Gardiner — Eustace Cbapuys — Ecclesiastical promotions — Wolsey delivers up the seal — Retires to Esher — Henry's ' comfortable words ' — Sir Thomas More chancellor — Wolsey condemned — Surrenders everything - 227 VI. — THE REFORMING PARLIAMENT. Parliament summoned — More's two speeches — The Reforming Parliament — The Commons' petition — The title accorded to the king — The 'Three Estates '—Fisher alone has the hardihood to defend the Church — Scanty enactments of the first session— Wolsey's impeachment — The forty-four Articles — The impeachment in the Commons languishes — Prorogation of CONTENTS. I'AOE Parliament — Wolsey's legal pardon— York restored to hiui— Noble traits shining through misfortunes - - -241 VII.— Till: OBSCORE TO THE FRONT. Wokey at Esher— Crumwell on ' Allhallowen-day'— Crumwell rides to London— His shrewdness relieves Wolsey— How Crumwell gained royal favour— His first interview wilh Henry — All the clergy in a praemunire — Their bargain with Henry- Crumwell's defence of Wolsey acceptable to the king — His rapid elevation — His fidelity in contrast to Gardiner— Crumwell's early life — Was he quite ignorant of Latin ?— The Italy of that age— Crumwell's career of prosperity — Gardiner and Fox meet Cranmer — Cranmer's suggestion — He is sent for by Henry — Was Cranmer Lord Rochford's priest ? — The embassy to Bologna — Cranmer at Rome— Cranmer ambassador to Charles — He is suddenlj' recalled — His reluctance to obey — He is con- secrated archbishop — Cranmer and Crumwell — Their differences and agreements in character .... 252 VIII.— THE CROWN AND THE TIARA. H my reluctant to break with Clement — Henry's embarrassments — The first papal Brief — Delay extorted — University sentences — Venality rife — Delays again — Henry indignantly refuses to be tried at Rome — His letter to Clement — Katharine's requests conceded by the pope — The second papal Brief — The king's citation a national insult — An ' Excusator ' sent — Who is not admitted — English pride wounded — The vehement struggle throughout England — Pulpit controversy — The Greenwich sermons — The Nun of Kent — Fruitless efforts with Katharine — God's watchful providence .... 275 IX. — THE CONFLICT DRAWING TO AN END. The third papal Brief — Its influence neutralized — Cranmer's eleva- tion encourages Henry — He secretly marries Anne — The arch- bishop's court at Dunstable — Cranmer gives sentence — The coronation — Katharine will not relinquish her title — Henry prepares for the concluding struggle — The royal supremacy — The Speaker of the Commons summoned — The Act in restraint of annates — The submission of the clergy — More's resignation — Audley keeper of the seal — More and Fisher — Spain and England contrasted : formerly and now — The obvious lesson - 291 X. — THE FINAL SEVERANCE. The Statute of Appeals — Henry excommunicated — Clement and Francis at Marseilles — Bonner presents Henry's appeal — The CONTENTS. xix PACE marriage with Katharine declared valid at Rome — The Act of Settlement— The Act of Royal Supremacy— Birth and baptism of Elizabeth ------ 304 BOOK V. MARTYR CONSTANCY. I. — ONE CONDITION TO SUCCESS WANTING. Three conditions necessary to success — Heroic constancy still want- ing — Tyndale on the divorce question— His right of private judgment — His interpretation of events in England — He removes from Marburg — The Packington bargain— The version of the Pentateuch — Jonah and its Prologue — The text at last found— The Treaty of Cambray— The king's May meeting— The proclamation - - - -310 II. — HUGH LATIMER. Latimer's pulpit warfare— His noble letter to Henry for an open Bible— His labours at West Kington— Latimer as a preacher- He is tried, and fails— Scene in the Arras Chamber — Persecution triumphant — Crome yields — Latimer with Bainham - - 319 III. — AN EFFORT TO REPAIR FAILURE. Bilney's shame for his recantation — His repentance and revived courage — His martyrdom - 32o IV. — THE SEAL OF SUCCESS. TyDdale the chief stay among our early Reformers — Vaughan com- missioned to draw him to England— Letters and interviews — Elyot's endeavours also in vain — Antwerp, and Tyndale's life there — Fryth returns to England — More aroused by Fryth's explanation of the Eucharist — Fryth apprehended — He is placed in the Tower — Tyndale's first epistle to Fryth— Fryth's treat- ment less severe — More's letter in reply to Fryth's explanation — Fryth's important answer to More — The plain offer of Fryth and Tyndale — Tyndale's second epistle to Fryth — Tyndale enters the Eucharistic controversy — His ' Supper of the Lord ' — More's answer to Tyndale — Curwen's sermon — Fryth tried and condemned — Fryth's unfaltering heroism — Fryth and Hewet burned — The New Act of Parliament — Fryth's constancy sealed the success of our Reformation — Tyndale and Fryth the heroes of its early stage — Their permanent memorials still with us - 331 xx CONTENTS. BOOK VI. MEDIEVALISM PASSING. — WOLSEY'S LAST DAYS. ^ PAGE Wnlsey removes from Esher to Richmond — His progress' to his northern see — He becomes a model bishop — His zealous dis- charge of his duties — From Southwell he removes to Scrooby — Thence he journeys to Cawood — He resolves to walk to the Minster barefoot — His popularity alarms his rivals — Their accusations against him — His arrest determined on — Walshe and Northumberland at Cawood — Wolsey surrenders to Walshe — His abject despondency — The journey begun to London — The delay at Sheffield Park — Kingston arrives with the Guards — The cardinal's superstition — Leicester Abbey reached — Wolsey's last hours — His death and burial — -A system interred with him ------- 352 Appendix -.-.„. 3gg THE DAWN OF THE ENGLISH REFORMATION. BOOK I. THE NEED OF THE REFORMATION. — THE CHURCH IN THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. The design of the Reformation, in Burnet's words, was ' to restore Christianity to what it was at first, and to purge it of those corruptions with which it was overrun in the later and darker ages.' No age was darker, at least morally, than that which immediately preceded the Reformation : the darkest hour was just before the new dawn. Corruption of doctrine and corruption of life had acted and reacted with aggravating influence on one another ; the circumstances of the times had contributed to augment evils ; and the result was appalling, as is allowed, without dispute, on all sides. A brief account of the condition of the Church in the opening years of the sixteenth century may serve to show the imperative need of the Reformation, as regards both doctrine and manners. The dogma that Christ, Divine and human, is actually present in the Eucharist, after consecration, in the elements themselves, although of comparatively recent introduction, had come to be accepted as of the very essence of the faith. Although contradictory to reason, and opposed to Scripture, this doctrinal innovation, gradually gaining ground — fostered, no doubt, by unguarded enthusiastic expressions in much- admired hymns — now held the central place in the Church system. 1 2 THE DA WN OF THE ENGLISH REFORMATION. The teaching prevailed generally that the merits of Christ are applied chiefly, or even exclusively, through the sacraments. And the outward act of sacramental reception was too often regarded as all-sufficient, the necessity of repentance and faith being overlooked. Thus religion, robbed of its true life and spirit, was degraded into a decent formalism — a merely objective system of outside observances. Sacramental views, thus fatal to the life of piety, were in strict accordance with that arrogant sacerdotalism which had superseded the primitive institution of the Christian ministry.* The Divine Head had founded His Church upon the model of a family — the twelve Apostles corresponding to Jacob's sons, the twelve Patriarchs. The twelve Christian Patriarchs, under the guidance of Divine illumination, according to the exigencies of circumstances, directed and developed the progress and the system of ' the household of faith.' But the Roman Church had contravened the Divine Founder's plan, and had drawn a clear and strong line of demarcation between the clergy and the laity. The idea of the Church became thus narrowed in general conception to the clergy alone. There was another infringement of primitive institutions in the rule of priestly celibacy. This is contrary to the plain text of Scripture ; to Apostolic precedent ; and to the custom of ecclesiastics in early times,f as well as to nature itself. But it had been zealously enforced by Gregory VII. (Hildebrand), a second Dunstan, with ampler powers, and wider influence. And thus the dividing gulf between clergy and laity became widened. The clergy were isolated like a caste, at the same time that they were precluded from becoming an hereditary caste. The pride of the heart was thus intensely flattered ; and before long sacerdotal pretensions reached a portentous height. The priest trenched upon the inalienable prerogatives of the one Divine Priest. The merely human priest invaded the office of the one Mediator ; he claimed to be the appointed link between the Creator and His * The lamented, learned, and able Dr. Lightfoot, Bishop of Durham, has clearly shown that sacerdotalism is unsupported by Scripture. See his ' Dissertation on the Christian Ministry ' appended to his ' Com- mentary on the Epistle to the Philippians.' t See Milman's ' Lat. Christ.,' iv., p. 17, etc. A PRIEST ONLY A MAN. 3 erring creatures. As such, the merely human priest conferred the Holy Ghost in baptism, and made his Maker in the sacrifice of the Mass. He listened to the acknowledgment of sin in act or word, or even motive and thought, from the trembling lips of the matron and the maiden, in the . unapproached secrecy of the confessional. It was his to sound the mysterious depths of the conscience. He delivered his authoritative censures ; imposed penalties ; and absolved from guilt. The keys of the invisible world were in his privileged and tenacious grasp. To prerogatives so exaggerated, it was no feeble support that the learning of the age, and even too frequently the mere ability to read and write, were almost restricted to the sacer- dotal order. It is true that our Anglican Church — for she was termed 'Anglican' in our Magna Charta — was less submissive to the Papacy than the Church in most other countries. The spirit of vigorous nationality, which not seldom animated the king and the baron, sometimes found a response even in the breasts of ecclesiastics. But for the most part the priest belonged to his order rather than to his nation. He did not fail commonly to assert to the full the supposed right of his privileged order and his sacred office, and exercised an autho- rity over the individual, the family, and the district, similar to that which St. Peter's infallible successor claimed over kings and kingdoms. But to exercise authority so exalted, and discharge functions so stupendous, without abuse, demanded nothing less than angelic purity. Considering the infirmities of human nature, it is no marvel that the weak credulity of the laity lured on the priesthood to greater and greater presumption. Contempt for the easily deluded multitude led to profaneness and irre- verence towards God Himself and the mysteries of the •Christian faith. Thus Luther, when he was at Eome (1510), overheard the priests venting their mock of lay superstition, and muttering in the Mass instead of the solemn words of consecration, their own ribald blasphemy — ' Bread thou art, and bread thou shalt remain ; wine thou art, and wine thou shalt remain.' That the priest might retain exclusively the post — which he 1—2 4 THE DA WN OF THE ENGLISH REFORMATION. so often abused to evil, and degraded by personal vice— of spiritual guide and director, ecclesiastical antipathy was out- spoken and vehement against any project to translate the sacred Scriptures into a modern tongue ' understanded of the people.' The antipathy developed into overt prohibition of such translation. This was chiefly in order to keep the lay mind in the one orthodox groove, and to prevent the flood- gates of heresy from being thrown wide open by the exercise of thought. The Divine warning was cited against throwing pearls before swine. But this was by no means all. The school-doctors had devised a complicated system of interpretation, which ren- dered the text of the learned languages of the inspired books only the hard outside shell to difficulties deeper and more perplexing. Thus one monopoly had been fortified by another monopoly. Contemporary Protestant writers are profuse of metaphor in describing the impediments wherewith the Church had hampered the meaning of the plain words of the plainest of all teachers. The strait gate and narrow way had been blocked with prickly thorns. The cobwebs of blinding glosses had been spread by ' poisoned spiders ' over luminous texts. The stream of Divine truth, so limpid in the Scriptures themselves for every thirsty soul to drink, had been made muddy by a medley of subtleties and a jargon of 'juggling terms.' And thus Erasmus, in publishing the text of the Greek Testament, with a simple Latin version, in parallel columns, spoke of himself as opening again — as Tyndale de- lighted to repeat after him — the ' wells of Abraham,' which ' the Scribes and Pharisees, those wicked and spiteful Philis- tines, had stopped and filled up with the earth of their false expositions.' As regards the connected department of morals, there can be no question that, just before the crisis of the Reformation, the habits and moral condition of the whole ecclesiastical corporation — secular, regular, and mendicant — had become worse than probably at any period before, or in fact since. In Freeman's words, not only were the Parliaments of the fifteenth century in England ' less liberal and independent bodies than those of the fourteenth.' but ' the Church of the fifteenth cen- SCANDALOUS PONTIFFS. 5 tury was scandalously corrupt."* The moral state of society generally had deteriorated likewise, by natural consequence. Discipline had grown lax. ' Men, spiritual and regular,' it was complained, ' observe no rule.' ' No priest,' it was com- monly said, ' is meek, no monk poor, no friar chaste.' The inferior clergy could plead in mitigation of censure the debased example of those in the highest ecclesiastical stations. Here the condition of things was so foul as to mock at the most anxious efforts of reform. The Great Schism itself (1378), which lasted nearly forty years, had been even ac- celerated by high-handed attempts on the part of Urban VI. to brinsr about moral amendment. After a time the characters of both the rival pontiffs, Urban and Clement VII. — who excommunicated and damned one another — proved so thoroughly Antichristian, that Wycliffe pronounced their lives to have ' nothing in common with the holy Church of God/ which would be ' in better case without either of them.' Worse followed. Just before and after the beginning of the sixteenth century, the pontiffs were mere secular princes, using spiritual pretensions, sometimes for the temporal benefit of their see, more frequently for family or personal aggrandize- ment. Councils were summoned, to essay the herculean task of cleansing the Church, but without any avail. As regards the moral characters of the pontiffs, Innocent VIII. (1484) was the father of seven children by as many different women. Under him, everything was venal. Alex- ander VI. (1492) was guilty of almost every foul deed in the catalogue of depravity. His son, the diminutive and lithe Csesar Borgia, his daughter Lucretia, were as infamous as their father, and never scrupled to employ the poniard or the poison-bowl. Then, after the twenty-six days' pontificate of Pius III, came (1503) Julius II. Addicted to wine, libidinous in earlier life, in his later career he proved more patriotic than his immediate predecessors. A bearded warrior, the most characteristic passage in his reign was his entering Mirandola (January, 1511) through a breach in the walls, in helmet and cuirass. The prodigal Leo X., the pupil of Politian, the * ' Historical Essays,' i., pp. 47, 49. 6 THE DAWN OF THE ENGLISH REFORMATION. patron of Raffaello and of Ariosto, succeeded (March, 1513) when only thirty-seven years of age. In the fifth century Leo I., sometimes styled ' the Great,' had laboured with success to advance the pretensions and power of the Roman See. Much later, but four hundred and fifty years before the beginning of the sixteenth century, Leo IX. (Bruno), previously Bishop of Toul, had administered ecclesiastical affairs with energy, and had been a sharp reprover of the filthy crimes, whether according to nature or below nature, which degraded the monks. It was barefoot, in mean attire, that Bruno had entered Rome as a pilgrim (1049), with Hildebrand, his Mentor, at his side, to seek the ratifica- tion from the clergy and people of his appointment by his imperial cousin, Henry III., to St. Peter's chair. A pontiff of similar character seemed loudly called for by the present con- dition of the Church. And probably a scintillation of this truth, together with the perception that such a conviction was afloat in the world, led to the revival in the style chosen by the youthful pontiff of an honoured name. But Leo X. differed — how widely ! — from Leo IX. The successor to the warlike Julius was an intellectual voluptuary, whose tastes were shared by his court. Like the painter who turned away from an inferior work of art lest his hand should lose some of its cunning, so Cardinal Bembo disdained to set eyes upon the Vulgate or Breviary, lest his own pure Latinity should catch the un-Ciceronian taint. Other cardinals were more remarkable for their gorgeous equipages, gilded chariots, sunshades of peacock plumes, novel delicacies of culinary refinement, and devotion to pagan art, than for their obedient submission to the pre- cepts, or for their humble faith in the articles of Christian creed. Without exciting surprise, the cry was heard on all sides, and was echoed at the papal court itself, that the Church must be reformed in ' the head and the members.' Turning to England in particular, the chief feature of the fifteenth century was overflowing lawlessness. The Church on the Continent, in this century, was blessed, amid deep corrup- tion, with thinkers and writers such as John of Goch (died 1475), John of Wesel (died in prison 1481), whose writings REGINALD PECOCK. 7 became text-books at Erfurth, and, greater tban either, John Wessel, of Groeningen (died 1489), who, for his scientific theology, is called by Ullmann ' pre-eminently the theological forerunner of the Reformation.'* The Dominican mystics also, their contemplative piety a protest against the too merely objective religion of the Middle Ages ; Tauler, whose discourses Luther highly appreciated ; Eckart ; and the author of the ' Imitation of Christ,' only less inimitable than the Divine Model Himself, and others, belong to this period. In England deeper darkness marked the failure of "Wycliffe's efforts. Only Reginald Pecock, bishop first of St. Asaph, then of Chichester, a star of somewhat ambiguous lustre, a defender of the pope and bishops against popular odium, a ' repressor of overmuch blaming of the clergy ' — the biting censures applied to them evidencing the still remaining influence of the ' Bible-men ' or Lollards — yet a penetrating critic, a student of the Scriptures, an advocate of toleration and of the marriage of priests, illumines the waste of dulness and blackness. So little, notwithstanding his exculpatory book, was Pecock acceptable to the clergy, that he was condemned in a synod at Lambeth (1457) and deprived of his see. Before this, Sir John Oldcastle (by right of his wife, Lord Cobham) had been martyred (1417), and thenceforward the ascendancy of the selfish grasping hierarchy lasted into the sixteenth century. In such an age the Church afforded more stable support than the shifting quagmires around. The kings, therefore, of the House of Lancaster, with keen-sighted wariness, made the clergy their allies in their usurpation, winked at their moral delinquencies, sanctioned laws against heretics. Subsequently the House of York found it expedient to steer in the wake of Lancaster. Thus the exemption of the clergy from trial in a secular court — under the pretence that no spiritual man ought to be tried by a worldly man, for the fifth commandment bids, ' Honour father and mother,' and Scripture instils the prohibi- tion, ' Touch not Mine anointed ' — a claim which had been for centuries a bone of contention in law, and which long remained such in fact, was at last conceded, when the House of York * Ullmann's 'Reformers before the Reformation' (Clark's Foreign Theological Library), ii., p. 259. 8 THE DA WN OF THE ENGLISH REFORMATION. triumphed over Henry VI. This exemption was confirmed by the victor of Bosworth, when his new crown was as yet un- steady on his head. Thus sacerdotalism received its consummation, and piety was reduced to the lowest ebb. No cleric, until he had been excommunicated, could be arraigned before a lay tribunal. Thus to have the most criminal or flagitious act done by a member of the sacred order visited with condign punish- ment became an achievement of complicated difficulty. The unrestrained sacerdotalism of the age, giving full effect to its one-sided sacramentalism, proffered temptations to the foulest vices and worst crimes by the promise of immunity hereafter, and the prospect of immunity here. Nor was this all. Others, also, besides those properly belonging to the sacred order, found refuge under the ample folds of the sacerdotal wing. If an} r one arraigned in a secular court for robbery or murder could prove his abilit} T to read or write, he was allowed to claim ' benefit of clergy,' and thus to have his cause transferred from the secular to the spiritual court. The greater leniency of ecclesiastical sentences may be argued to have ' done much to uphold a higher standard of humanity ' ; but a wide door had been thus thrown open to gross abuses. The Roman Chancery had established a graduated scale of fines, according to which by a money payment ' anointed malefactors ' could compound for flagrant transgressions. The vow of chastity might be violated for the modest sum of one hundred livres. Assassination by a bishop or abbot cost the guilty ecclesiastic three hundred livres. Absolution from murder was assessed to a deacon at twenty crowns. The extremity of the evils thus lightly dealt with added fresh force to the demand for Church reform. In Germany, where clerical prerogative towered to its highest point, it was demanded, in the peasant insurrection, that the clergy should be tried and punished by lay judges. In England, early in the reign of Henry Till., the claim of ecclesiastical immunity embroiled the laity with the clergy. A brief account of this remarkable dispute will not be out of place. It had been enacted in 151-3 that murderers and robbers CLERICAL AND LA Y CONFLICT. 9 should be denied the benefit of their clergy.* The House of Lords made an exception in favour of those within the holy orders of bishop, priest, or deacon. The clergy still felt aggrieved, fearing that the attack upon the lower grades would erelong be extended to the higher members of the sacred profession. The Abbot of Winchelcombe preached a violent sermon at Paul's Cross in maintenance of the ex- emption of all clerks, whether of lower or higher degree, in criminal cases, from civil jurisdiction. The laity were roused on their side to extreme indignation, and the matter was brought before the king. Standish, Guardian of the Cordeliers, argued in behalf of the rights of the laity, although he well knew that he was contravening the sentiments of the bishops, and of the entire clerical body. The Abbot of Win- chelcombe was ' counsel for the clergy.' The contest was further aggravated by the affair of Richard Hunne, which happened at this particular juncture. Hunne had refused to pay the mortuary (the biering sheet) for a deceased child five years of age. For payment of this due he was sued, and in return sued the plaintiff in a prcemunire. Then heresy was charged against Hunne ; he had been found to have in his possession Wycliffe's Bible, which was cited in proof of the allegation that he was a heretic. He was accordingly im- prisoned in the Lollards' Tower at St. Paul's, and here he was found in his cell hanged and dead. The clergy maintained that he had been guilty of suicide and hanged himself. But such a supposition was inconsistent with all that was known of Hunne's character. The coroner's verdict pronounced that Dr. Horsey, chancellor to the Bishop of London, and the bishop's sumner (summoner), and the bell-ringer, had mur- dered him, and then, to conceal their guilt, had hanged up his body. The bishop, on his part, proceeded against the dead body. Hunne was condemned as a heretic, and his body was burnt at Smithfield. Then the House of Commons took up the matter, and, compassionating the victim of clerical malignity, passed a Bill for the restoration of Hunne's children. The Bill was sent up to the Lords, where the power of the prelates was overwhelming. Thus Convoca- * 4 Henry VIII., ii., c. 2. io THE DA WN OF THE ENGLISH REFORMATION. tion and the Peers became in effect arrayed against the Commons. The opinion of the judges was next sought, and was given against the clergy. After this, to calm the animosity which continued to prevail amid such diverging verdicts, and was rather embittered than subdued by length of time, the opponents were summoned to appear before Henry himself at Baynard's Castle. The royal words on this occasion (April, lolo) were so characteristic that they sound like a prophecy of events which came to pass fifteen years afterwards: 'By the permission and ordinance of God we are King of England, and the King of England in times past never had any superior but God only. Therefore know you well that we will maintain the right of our crown, and of our temporal jurisdiction, as well in this as in all other points, in as ample manner as any of our progenitors have done before our time. And as for your decrees, we are weil assured that you of the spirituality go expressly against the words of divers of them, as hath been showed you by some of our council ; and you interpret your decrees at your pleasure ; but we will not agree to them more than our progenitors have done in former times.' The heat of strife was somewhat allayed by what wears the appearance of a kind of compromise. Horsey was dismissed from his post ; Standish was excluded from Convocation. But the Londoners still remained dissatisfied. The affair has been detailed with some fulness by Burnet, who adds the comment : ' It seems to have had great influence on people's minds, and to have disposed them much to the changes that followed afterwards.'* To raise sacerdotalism to its coveted pitch of exaltation, celibacy, introduced into England by Augustin, and enforced with rigour by Hildebrand, had been a cherished instrument. This requirement in the teeth of nature was rather for political than for moral ends. It served to draw a clear line between the clergy and the laity, and, by strengthening the unity, to increase the power of the clerical corporation. Habits of self- denial it had less effect in inducing. Indeed, as a matter of fact, the prescribed rule was hypocritically dealt with — and * Xares' Burnet's ' Reformation,' part i., book i., pp. 20-30. DEGENERACY OF THE FRIARS. n that with the connivance of those in authority. The severity of compulsory celibacy was too much for average human nature ; it proved often an inlet to degrading vice, and required to be mitigated extensively in general practice. Thus, among the seculars, a priest could, without any appalling difficulty, purchase a license to keep a concubine. And even that the prior of a monastery should, ' on account of fragility,' hold such a license, was not quite without precedent. In Germany the concubinage of priests was common.* In England some slur was cast upon the practice : and it was argued that to have one concubine in the house was worse than to have ten whores outside. f More than two centuries had elapsed since the great Florentine had sung of St. Francis (1210), and of St. Dominic (1215), the former 'seraphic all in fervency, the latter radiance of cherubic light,' % as the two ordained by Providence to a noble work of spiritual regeneration. But the revival of which these founders of zealous rival fraternities had been the instruments had by this time sunk from the flame of first love to the dull decay of dying embers. The period of declension may be gathered by implication from the writings of foremost ecclesiastics. The admirable Robert Grosse-tete — a prelate worthy to preside over the diocese * Of the 'Centum Gravamina' transmitted by the Diet of Nuremberg to Adrian VI. the ninety- first complained of this licensing system. Tyndale says : ' Through Dutchland every priest paying a gildren unto the archdeacon shall freely and quietly have his whore ... as they do in Wales, in Ireland, Scotland, France, and Spain.' — Works, P.S., iii., p. 40. f ' Cum ob malum exemplum, turn ob occasionem ssepius peccandi cum ea, quae domi sit.' — Tho. Mori Apologia pro Erasmo. ' To pour,' wrote Tyndale, ' too much wine in the chalice, or read the Gospel without light, or make not his crosses aright, how trembleth he ! how feareth he ! What an horrible sin is committed ! I cry God mercy, saith he, and you my ghostly father ! But to hold an whore or another man's wife, to buy a benefice,' etc. Again : ' When the holy Father had forbade priests their wives, the bishops permitted them whores of their own for a yearly tribute, and do still yet in all lands save in England, where they may not have any other save men's wives only.' — Works, P.S., i., pp. 232, 248 ; ii., p. 295; 'Suppression of Monasteries,' C.S., pp. 47, 58; Erasmi. op. ix., p. 401. ± ' Tutto Seraphico in ardore, L' altro per sapienza in terra f ue Di Cherubica luce uno splendore.' Dante, ' Paradiso,' canto xi. 12 THE DA WN OF THE ENGLISH REFORMATION. blessed with the episcopate of St. Hugh of Lincoln thirty-five years previously — was Bishop of Lincoln 1235. He was also ( 'hancellor of Oxford, and is to be revered as the patron of Roger Bacon. So eminent was his piety that at his decease devout ears could hear bells in heaven ringing a peal of welcome. Grosse-tete employed the energy of the friars to supplement the insufficiency of the secular clergy. But, a century later, the honest Richard Fitz-Ralph, Archbishop of Armagh — contemporary with the anti-Pelagian Thomas Bradwardine — and after him Wycliffe in his later writings, denounced their greed of pow r er and pelf, and their other vices. ' Lecherous ruffians' is the description whereby Froude* designates the mendicants of "Wycliffe's day. The declension continued unchecked. Friaries, nunneries, monasteries, still in theory the sanctuaries of a more devoted piety — although, during the wars of the Roses, as hospitals and places of refuge, they earned many a benediction — had now become too often nests of drowsy sloth, of indolent ignorance, and even dis- reputable drunkenness and debauchery. The monasteries, like most human institutions, have a varied record, good and evil interspersed, the evil in their later history, no doubt, preponderating. Like other wealthy landowners of the time, the monasteries lent their aid to diffuse the blessings of education. The Benedictines, the greatest of the monastic bodies — who had alone made progress instead of suffering declension in the fifteenth century, the classical revival having stimulated their learned labours — possessed three establishments at Oxford — St. Benedict's, or Gloucester Hall, now Worcester College ; Canterbury Hall, now merged in Christ Church ; St. Cuthbert's Hall, now Trinity College. Besides this great fraternity, many a monastery supported one or more students at one or other of the universities, by a grant, or corrody. Religious persons there were, too, inside the cloisters, who used em- broidering, writing books with very fair hand, making gar- ments, carving, painting, engraving. Some few took an interest in scientific pursuits. Some convents, also, supplied ' Short Studies on Great Subiects ' vol. iii. ; ' Annals of an English Abbey.' THE MONASTIC SYSTEM. 13 the best ladies' schools of the age, where ' gentlemen's children were right virtuously brought up.' In too many districts such conventual establishments had now become rare spectacles of happy industry and active usefulness amidst too frequent useless torpor — verdant oases, gladdening the penetrating eye, amid what for the most part was a dreary waste. There has been recently published by an English Bene- dictine a book entitled ' Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries,'* which professes to be an ' attempt to illustrate the history of their suppression.' The book is really an attempt to make white the sepulchre, and sweeten the odour of English mediaeval conventualism. This it has attempted to do, chiefly by trying to make black the reputations of the visitors of the monasteries under Crumwell — Layton, Legh, Ap Rice, and London, and especially by trying to make blacker than it even was before the reputation of Crumwell himself. It would, however, be no very difficult task to match the statements of the visitors in their letters by clear and conclusive passages from competent authorities. Without quoting from Luther and a numerous throng of other well- informed witnesses, the testimony of Erasmus,t who knew the monasteries well, and whose observations illustrate with vivid touches conventual manners and life, is itself alone sufficient. If necessary, the testimony of bishops, of kings, and of pontiffs themselves, could be added without difficulty. The condem- nation of conventual morality pronounced by Crumwell and his visitors, however self-interested they may have been, is by no means singular, but in strict harmony with facts and general convictions, with the express statements, or incidental hints of the principal contemporary writers. * By Francis Aidan Gasquet, mouk of the Order of St. Benedict (2 vols.). j" The advice of Erasmus to one who would fain be a nun may serve as a specimen : ' Videndum est,' he cautions, ' ne dum paras nubere Christo, nubas aliis.' In his 'Colloquia' — Virgo My«/