clesiastical My very good Lord, after my right hearty commenda- State Paper tions; these shall be to signify to you, that I have received Office, Ecyour letters dated the 7th day of July, and also your other Papers. letters dated the day of and therewith certain depositions, the contents of the which your said letters I have thoroughly pondered and considered. And first as touching the said depositions, process shall be made accordingly as justice shall require in that behalf; and as for to get you a discreet priest for your parish, I shall do what I can to provide you one with expedition; and likewise to provide you a learned man to be my Commissaryh, I will do the best that lieth in me. Howbeit, I fear me, that I shall with much difficulty obtain such a one, by reason that learned men are not willing to demore continually beyond the sea and out of the realm, without great stipend, which will be to me no small charge over that it was. Nevertheless I do little pass of any charge, so that I may get one that will mind the advancement of God's glory, the King's honour, and the quietness of your town. And as to your request, that none should be suffered to preach nor expound the Holy Scripture with you, but such as shall be authorized by the King's Majesty or by me, I shall not fail to give such a commandment unto him that shall be my Commissary, 8 [Arthur Plantagenet, Viscount Lisle, an illegitimate son of Edw. IV, was now Lord Deputy of Calais, having been appointed to the office in 1532. He was afterwards committed to the Tower on suspicion of a design for betraying Calais to the French, and died there in 1542. The King, it is related, being satisfied of his innocence, sent him a diamond ring as a token of his favour, by Sir Thomas Wriothesley his Secretary; and "Master Secretary set forth this message with such "effectual words, as he was an eloquent and well spoken man, that the "Lord Lisle took such immoderate joy thereof, that his heart being op"pressed therewith, he died the night following through too much re"joicing." Holinshed, vol. iii. p. 955.] [The office was vacant by the removal of John Butler. See Letter ccxxv. The Archbishop does not seem to have been happy in the choice of a successor: for Robert Harvey, whose appointment bears date the 20th of May, 1540, after a short administration signalized by a cruel persecution of the reformers, was hanged, drawn, and quartered for treason. Strype, Crunm. p. 87; Foxe, Acts, &c. vol. ii. p. 565.] that he shall suffer no person to preach out of his own cure, but such as shall have the said authority, either from the King's Grace or from mei. As concerning such persons as in time of divine service do read the Bible, they do much abuse the King's Grace's intent and meaning in his Grace's Injunctions k and Proclamations; which permitteth the Bible to be read, not to allure great multitudes of people together, nor thereby to interrupt the time of prayer, meditation, and thanks to be given unto Almighty God, which, specially in divine service, is and of congruence ought to be used; but that the same be done and read in time convenient, privately, for the condition and amendment of the lives, both of the readers and of such hearers as cannot themselves read, and not in contempt or hinderance of any divine service or laudable ceremony used in the church; nor that any such reading should be used in the church, as in a common school, expounding and interpreting Scriptures, unless it be by such as shall have authority to preach and read; but that all other readers of the Bible do no otherwise read thereupon, than the simple and plain text purporteth and lieth printed in the book. And if it chance that any doubt or question [Lord Lisle's request probably arose out of the furious controversies by which Calais had lately been agitated. See Letters ccxxv. CCXXVIII. and Foxe, Acts, &c. vol. ii. p. 556, &c] k [It was one of Crumwell's Injunctions in the preceding September, that a copy of the Bible should be placed in every parish church. See Letter CXCII note (k).]. [Cranmer's Letter is in perfect accordance with other documents of that day, both with respect to the abuses attending the reading of the Bible, and the remedies recommended for them. Thus it was directed, in A Declaration to be read by curates to their congregations, that "if at any time by reading any doubt shall come to any "of you, touching the sense and meaning of any part thereof; that "then, not giving too much to your own minds, phantasies, and opin"ions, nor having thereof any open reasoning in your taverns or ale"houses, ye shall have recourse to such learned men, as be, or shall be 66 authorized to preach and declare the same." See Appendix. And a proclamation in May 1541, declared, that it was not the intention of the King's Royal Majesty that any of his loving subjects" should read "the said Bibles, with high and loud voices, in time of the celebration "of the holy mass, and other divine services used in the church; or that any his lay subjects reading the same, should presume to take upon "them any common disputation, argument, or exposition of the myst do arise, or seem to the readers and hearers of the said Bible by reason of the text, then they always, for the declaration of the said doubts and questions, to resort unto such preachers as shall be lawfully admitted to preach. Which manner of reading and using of the Bible I pray you, my lord, that now, in the absence of my Commissary, the same may, by your authority, be published in your church and all other churches within the marches of Calyce, with all convenient expedition. Thus, my lord, right heartily fare you well. At Croydon, the 13th day of July. [1539.] I pray your lordship to send unto me with expedition other articles which you have against Rauff Hare", or Broke, if you have any against them, specially since the King's pardon, other than you have before sent hither; for the mo matters that be against them, the more it is to their condemnation. To the Right Honourable my Lord Lyle, the King's Deputy at Calyce. Your loving friend, T. Cantuarien. CCXLIX. To CRUMWELL. My very singular good Lord, after my most hearty MSS. Chapter "eries therein contained." Burnet, Ref. vol. i. App. book iii. No. 24. House, Boner also in his Admonition to readers of the Bible in 1542, recommended, "that no number of people be specially congregate therefore "to make a multitude; and that no exposition be made thereupon, "otherwise than it is declared in the book itself; and that especially regard be had, that no reading thereof be used, allowed, and with "noise in the time of any divine service or sermon; or that in the same "be used any disputation, contention, or any other misdemeanour." Burnet, Ref. vol. i. App. book iii. No. 25. See also Cranmer's Preface to the Bible, (vol. ii. p. 104;) and Henry VIII's celebrated speech to his parliament in 1545.] [Ralph Hare, a private soldier, and Thomas Brook, an officer in the customs at Calais, were accused of being tainted with Damplip's supposed heresies. See Letter ccxxv. Foxe relates "the troubles" of both, and gives a particular account of Gardyner's insidious advice to Hare, to submit himself to my lord of Canterbury, as 66 a good gentle "lord, who was loth that he should be cast away." Foxe, Acts, &c. vol. ii. p. 559.] ster; State Westmin- commendations; these shall be to signify unto your lordCrumwell's ship, that I have overseen the Primer which you sent Corres- unto me, and therein I have noted and amended such faults pondence. Original. as are most worthy of reformation; divers things there are besides therein, which, if before the printing of the book had been committed unto me to oversee, I would have amended; howbeit they be not of that importance, but that Lett. XCII. for this time they may be well enough permitted and Todd, Life of Cranm. suffered to be read of the people: and the book of itself, no vol.i.p.129. doubt, is very good and commendable. Thus, my lord, most heartily fare you well. At Croydon, the xxith day of July ". vol. i. part ii. Your own ever assured, To the Right Honourable and my Seal. T. Cantuarien. CCL. TO CRUMWELL. MSS. Chapter My very singular good Lord, after my most hearty commendations; these shall be to signify unto your lordship, Westmin that it chanced in time of my being at Lambeth on Sunday ster; Crumwell's Cor- at night last past, between ten and eleven of the clock of the same night, a priest and a woman were very suspiciously Original. taken at Croidon by the constable there, and by the said constable kept in ward until my coming home, which was respond ence. [In the State Papers, (vol. i. p. 559.) this Letter is assigned to 1537, and the Primer mentioned is supposed to be that which was printed by Redman in the same year. But on the 21st of July 1537, Cranmer was at Lambeth, in fear of the plague, and praying for leave to depart. See Lett. CLXXXIV. p. 189. Probably therefore the Primer now sent for the Archbishop's revision, was one which was printed by John Maylart for John Waylande in 1539, with the following title: "The Primer in "English, most necessary for the education of children, abstracted out "of the Manual of Prayers, or Primer in English and Latin, set forth by John [Hilsey] late Bishop of Rochester, at the commandment of "the Right Hon. Lord Thomas Crumwell, Lord Privy Seal, &c." Or it may have been the larger work by Hilsey, which is referred to in this title. See accounts of both in Ames, Typogr. Antiq. ed. Dibdin, vol. iii. p. 518.] 66 on Monday last past; since which time I have examined both parties, as farther your lordship shall perceive by their examinations, which I send unto you herewithal. And forasmuch as there is no commission out as yet for the due correction and punishment of such offenders according to the Act in this behalf, I shall desire your lordship to advertise me with convenient expedition of the King's Grace's pleasure, how and in what manner they shall be ordered. And as concerning the woman, if it be true which she hath confessed, as it seemeth to be, then she hath deserved somewhat the more favour for the plain confession of the truth. Thus, my lord, right heartily fare you well. At Croidon, the xxxti day of July. Your own assured ever, To my very singular good lord, my T. Cantuarien. Lord Privy Seal. CCLI. To CRUMWELL. House, well's Cor My very singular good Lord, after my most hearty com- MSS. mendations; these shall be to advertise your lordship, that Chapter I have received your letters for the preferment of Mr. WestminDoctor Peter P unto Doctor Wotton's 9 room of the facul- ster; Crumties, when it shall chance by the promotion of the said respondDoctor Wotton to be void. Surely, my lord, I would be glad of Mr. Peter's preferment as of any man's living to that office, for such good qualities as I know in him of old; [Viz. the celebrated Act of the Six Articles, Stat. 31 Hen. VIII. c. 14. The examinations which were forwarded to Crumwell sufficiently proved, that the 21st and 22nd clauses of it, against the incontinence of priests, had been violated.] P [See Letter CLX.] [Dr. Nicholas Wotton succeeded Boner as Master of the Archbishop's Faculties on the 6th of Oct. 1538. In 1539 he was appointed Archdeacon of Gloucester, and refused a bishopric: about which time probably this Letter was written. Strype, Cranm. p. 72. Chalmers, ence. Ori ginal. |