Corres names shall be delivered unto your lordship herewithal, Crumwell's which are indicted for unlawful assemblies at the last ses- pondence. sions at Canterbury, and as they report unto me of none Original. occasion or ground else, but for by cause they are accounted fauters of the new doctrine (as they call it); beseeching your lordship therefore, that if it cannot be duly proved that they are worthy thus to be indicted, they may be released of this their indictment. For if the King's subjects within this realm which favour God's word, shall be unjustly vexed at sessionss, it will be no marvel though much sedition be daily engendered within this realm. Wherefore I pray you, my lord, that some remedy may in time be devised for the redress of such indictments. Thus, my lord, right heartily fare you well. At Lambeth, the 29th day of April. Your own assured, To the Right Honourable and my singular good lord, my Lord Privy Seal. T. Cantuarien. CCXVIII. To CRUMWELL. House, My Lord, in my most hearty wise I commend me unto MSS. you. And whereas I moved you to write in the favour of Chapter Sir Thomas Lawneyt unto young Mr. Parre, for the resig- Westminnation" of the Vicarage of Roydon in Essex, belonging unto Crumwell's [See Cranmer's correspondence with a Justice, Letter cxcvi. &c. The evil does not appear to have been remedied by the present complaint; for, at a Visitation in 1543, Vincent Ingeam, a justice of the peace, as Strype supposes, was presented, for commanding that no man should read, or hear the Bible read, upon pain of imprisonment; and for casting two men into prison, one for speaking against him therein, and the other for showing him the King's Injunctions concerning the same.] [This Lawney was a witty man, and chaplain to the old Duke of "Norfolk, and had been one of the scholars placed by the Cardinal in "his new College at Oxon: where he was chaplain of the house, and prisoner there with Frith. In the time of the Six Articles he was a "minister in Kent, placed there, I suppose, by the Archbishop." Strype, Cranmer, p. 25, where two specimens of his wit may be seen.] 66 "[The resignation did not take place, Osias Le Moyne having held the Vicarage from 1523 to his death in 1541. Newcourt, Repertorium, vol. ii. p. 508.] ster; Original. Corres- his chaplain, I have sent unto your lordship letters devised pondence for that purpose, beseeching you, my lord, to assign them if you like the draught of them, or else that they may be amended according to your mind. In accomplishing whereof you shall prefer a right honest man, worthy to have a much better thing than this is. Thus, my lord, right heartily fare you well. At Lambeth, the first day of May. Your own assured, To my very singular good lord, my Lord Privy Seal. T. Cantuarien. MSS. CCXIX. TO CRUMWELL. My Lord, in my hearty wise I commend me unto your good lordship. And whereas this bearer, my friend and Westmin- kinsman, hath certain suits before you, I pray you, my lord, Chapter ster; that Crumwell's ye will be so good lord unto him in these his suits, if it ther at this my request and instance; wherein ye shall both To my very singular good lord, my T. Cantuarien. MSS. CCXX. To CRUMWELL. My very singular good Lord, after most hearty recommenChapter dations so it is, as I am informed, that there is an office House, Westmin- founden before the late Excheator of the county of Lincoln, Crumwell's after the death of one Thomas Tamworth, in the which of fice, amongs other things, it is founden, that the said Tho- Correspondence. mas Tamworthe should be seized and die seized of one Originul. mese and fifty-eight acres of land and pasture, lying in a town called Leeke, in the said county of Lincoln; which lands, as I am credibly informed, is the true inheritance of this poor gentleman John Tamworthe, this bearer; and he that is heir of the said Thomas Tamworthe is now the King's ward, and was in the custody of Sir William Musgrave, knight, and Dame Elizabeth his wife, by the King's letters patents to the said Dame Elizabeth made; who having the custody of the same ward, by colour of the said office so founden, both against the due order of law and good conscience, hath, since the death of the said Thomas Tamworthe, not only taken the profits of the said mese and fifty-eight acres of land, but also of forty acres mo of other lands lying in the said town, in the said office not contained, which also is the inheritance of this poor gentleman; and forasmuch as his counsel doth inform him that he can have no traverse to the said office during the minority of the said John Tamworth, son and heir of the said Thomas Tamworth; therefore for restitution of the other lands in the said office not comprised, he hath sued to the Master of the King's wards, who, upon his long suit, did direct a commission to certain worshipful gentlemen of the said county of Lincoln, to inquire of the truth of the premises; who, by authority of the said commission, hath sitten and inquired by the oath of twelve men duly of the same, and which twelve men have given their verdict to the said Commissioners, and put thereunto their several seals; and as I am informed, there is so much affection in Thomas Browne, one of the said Commissioners, (who, by the consent of other his fellows, had the commission delivered unto him to make certificate thereof at the day of return specified in the said commission,) that as yet he hath made no certificate of the same, saying it is the commandment of some of your lordship's counsel, that he shall keep it out and make no certificate, which is great hinderance and cost to this poor gentleman, and loss of his in heritance: wherefore I beseech your good lordship to give in commandment to the said Thomas Browne, who hath the custody of the said commission, to make certificate thereof to the Master of the King's wards; either else that the matter may be heard by your counsel, and upon certificate thereof made to your lordship, such direction and order may be taken in the same, as shall stand with the King's laws, right, and good conscience; and you shall bind this gentleman during his life to do you such service as may lie in him for to do. Thus Almighty God long preserve your lordship in honour. From my manor of Croydon, the xxixth of May. Your own assured ever, T. Cantuarien. * The said John Tamworth is a near kinsman of mine, wherefore I pray you be good lord unto him. To my singular good lord, my Lord Privy Seal. MSS. House, : CCXXI. TO CRUMWELL. After my most hearty commendations unto your good Chapter lordship these shall be to signify unto the same, that this Westmin- bearer, John Robynson, is one of my Lord of Wylteshire Crumwell's servants y, for whom I spake unto your lordship to accept Corres- into your service, beseeching your lordship, inasmuch as he Original. daily giveth attendance to know your pleasure herein, that ster; pondence. you will be his good lord in this his suit, and I trust that he shall do unto you his true and faithful service; and as for his honesty and other qualities, I doubt not but that the experience of my Lord of Wiltesher's service is a suffi * [This postscript is in the handwriting of Cranmer.] [This Letter seems to have been written on the breaking up of the Earl of Wiltshire's establishment by his death in 1538.] cient testimony for him in that behalf. Thus, my lord, most heartily fare you well. At Lambeth, the vth day of June. Your own assured ever, T. Cantuarien. To my very singular good lord, my Lord Privy Seal. CCXXII. To CRUMWELL. House, ster; pondence. My singular good Lord, after most hearty wise I commend Mss. me unto your good lordship; signifying unto you, that Chapter about a twelve months past, as I was in my journey towards Westminthe King's Highness, I lodged at my house in Croydon; Crumwell's where certain of my chaplains by chance went into the Correschurch there, and as they looked in certain books they Original. found the names of Bishops of Rome not put out according unto the King's commandment 2; wherefore I sent for all the priests of the church, and their books also, and showed them the place where such names were, and also commanded them that they should amend their said books, and I discharged the parish priest of his service at the same time. Now if it please your good lordship, it chanced in these holidays the Dean of the Arches to say mass with a book belonging to one of the chauntry priests of the said church; which book is nothing amended since that time of my being there, and yet then I myself showed the places in [See proclamations on this subject in Wilkins, Concilia, vol. iii. p.772; and Burnet, Ref. vol. iii. App. B. ii. No. 32; from which it will appear, not only that the bishops were commanded" to cause all man"ner of prayers, orisons, rubrics, and canons in mass books and all "other books used in churches, wherein the Bishop of Rome is named, "utterly to be abolished, eradicate, and rased out, in such wise as the "said Bishop of Rome, his name and memory for evermore (except to "his contumely and reproach) may be extinct, suppressed, and ob"scured;" but that the sheriffs and justices of the peace were directed to make diligent search, whether the bishops truly and sincerely did their duty. It must be recollected that the proclamation printed by Wilkins, bears the date of 1534 instead of 1535. See Letter CLXXI. note (k)] |