tions at putations at Oxford in April 1554, in which he contended, as Respondent, with Chedsey and others, and as Opponent, with Harpsfield f; his Examination before Brokes, Bishop of Gloucester, in Sept. 15555; his Appeal at his degradation on the 14th of Feb. 1556 h; and lastly, his Prayer, Exhortation and Profession of Faith, at St. Mary's Disputa- Church on the day of his martyrdom. The DisputaOxford, tions at Oxford in April 1554, were held under a comApril 1554 mission from Boner, as President of the Convocation, by which Weston, the Prolocutor of the Lower House, with several other of its members, a select number of divines from Cambridge, and a similar body of representatives from Oxford, were empowered to issue their summons to Cranmer, Ridley, and Latymer, and to propose to them certain articles for public disputation. The articles proposed were three in number, all asserting the Romish doctrines on the Eucharist. The proceedings which followed are detailed at length in Foxe's Acts and Monuments, and the part borne in them by the Archbishop, has been reprinted from that work, with a few additions from other authorities k. Foxe's report was collected with great diligence, and is probably as accurate as the confused nature of the discussion, and the unfairness of those who presided at it, allowed. But of course it must not be referred to as a satisfactory f Vol. iv. p. 67. g Vol. iv. p. 79. e Vol. iv. p. 8. h Vol. iv. p. 118. k Vol. iv. p. 4. A doubt may perhaps be raised respecting the propriety of inserting in the present publication the copious extracts from Foxe, which describe these closing scenes of Cranmer's life. Yet a Collection of his Remains would be very incomplete, without some report of what fell from him on those trying occasions. If some report is necessary, none is so full as that of Foxe: and this, if adopted, can scarcely be detached altogether from his narrative. It is hoped, therefore, that the reader will pardon the reprinting of much matter, which is the work of Foxe rather than of Craniner. I See Vol. iv. pp. 4, 7. notes (a) and (d). record of Cranmer's reasonings on the question. For that purpose, the written controversy with Gardyner, where he could neither be interrupted nor misrepresented, must be consulted. It is however a very interesting memorial both of the manners of the day, and of the learning and ability displayed by the Archbishop on an occasion for which his talents seemed to be little adapted. Being characterised by solidity rather than quickness of thought, he was better fitted for shining in counsel than in debate. Even his friends therefore may have looked forward to the event with some anxiety; and his enemies probably, giving credit to the slander that he was not only slow but ignorant, indulged in anticipations of an easy victory. But here they were disappointed. Though his replies did not equal in readiness and point those of his fellow-prisoner Ridley, he yet maintained his ground with a vigour and spirit for which his antagonists were not prepared, and which disproved most completely the notions in circulation m, respecting the shallowness of his attainments and the narrow range of his understanding. tion for But it was not a case in which an able defence was of any Condemnaavail. As he persisted, together with Ridley and Latymer, heresy, in denying the three Articles, they were all declared guilty 1554. of heresy. It was soon however discovered that this sentence was invalid. The nation had not yet been reconciled to the Pope and the Convocation consequently being itself out of the pale of the Church, could not presume to sit in judgment on others. This obstacle was removed towards the end of 1554, when absolution was formally pronounced by Cardinal Pole". Yet the commission for a new trial of m "Where some have reported him to be utterly unlearned, and not "able to answer a Latin text of a doctor, he hath showed himself "learned both in Latin and Greek: for truly he had a better Latin tongue than divers that did oppose him." Letter of an Oxford Scholar, in Foxe, Acts and Monuments, p. 933. (ed. 1563.) It was pronounced in Parliament on the 30th of November, and tion before Cranmer was not issued till Sept. 1555. It proceeded, not as before, from the President of the Convocation, but from the Pope and it was directed to the Cardinal de Puteo, who nominated for his Subdelegate, James Brokes, Bishop Examina- of Gloucester. This prelate accordingly, as the papal repreBrokes, sentative, held a Court in St. Mary's Church at Oxford, at Sept. 1555 which Martyn and Story, doctors of civil law, appeared as the Queen's proctors, and laid their charges against the Archbishop. The interrogatories put to him on this occasion led him to speak on some of the most important occurrences of his life, and in particular to enter at considerable length into the grounds, on which he had formerly assisted in throwing off the authority of the Pope, and now refused his consent to its reestablishment. The Examination consequently throws much light not only on his own personal conduct, but also on the general question of the separation of the Church of England from that of Rome. It is therefore to be regretted, that there is some difficulty in obtaining an accurate account of it. Three P reports have been preserved; but it unfortunately happens, that the most copious of them may also be suspected of being the least faithful 9. Under these circumstances, it has been thought best to reprint them all, that the reader may want none of the materials extant for ascertaining the truth. The examination before Bishop Brokes prepared the way in Convocation on the 6th of December, 1554. Strype, Cranmer, p. 345. • Fearful that his statements would not be faithfully transmitted to the Queen, he comprised their substance in a long Letter addressed to her after this examination. This Letter, which may thus be considered to be a corrected copy of his Speech, is in fact a short treatise on the papal supremacy. See Letter ccxcix. P Two are preserved by Foxe; the third is the official report from Brokes to his principal the Cardinal de Puteo, which was first published by Mr. Todd in the Oxford reprint of Strype's Cranmer, 1812. 9 See notes on the Examination before Brokes, Vol. iv. pp. 79. 87, 88.99. This instrument, which may tion, Feb. 1556. for the Pope's final sentence. be seen at length in Foxe', after recounting Cranmer's contumacys and heresy, proceeded to pronounce his excommunication and deprivation, and to direct him to be delivered over to the secular power. In obedience to this Degradamandate he was degraded on the 14th of Feb. 1556, by Boner and Thirlby, having previously, according to the example of Luther, tendered an Appeal, written with much care and under legal advice, in which he complained of unrighteous judgment, and demanded to be tried by the next General Council. Immediately after this Appeal, or per- Appeal. haps simultaneously with it, begins the story of his Recantations". These, even if they were better authenticated than they have yet been, could scarcely claim a place in the present publication. Still less can they do so, when surrounded, as they are, with doubt and difficulty. But the same objection Prayer, &c. does not apply to the Prayer, Exhortation, and Profession Mary's. of Faith publicly recited by him at St. Mary's just before his death. It has indeed been asserted, that the two former of these, as well as some of his recantations, were prepared for him by another. But it is difficult to believe, that their simple and touching pathos could have proceeded from an exulting enemy: it surely must have flowed from the genuine sorrow of a wounded and contrite spirit. The whole therefore of what he uttered on this occasion, has been ad r Acts and Monuments, p. 1490. (ed. 1563.) It was dated the 14th of December 1555. The contumacy consisted in his not escaping from his prison at Oxford, to appear according to the citation at Rome. t Vol. iv. p. 121. "The fourth of the recantations (which is the first that bears any date) purports to have been written on the 16th of February, only two days after his Appeal. The sixth is dated on the 18th of March, three days before his death. A very careful examination of this perplexing question will be found in Mr. Soames's Hist. of the Reforma tion. * See Vol. iv. p. 137. at St. mitted without hesitation into this Collection of his Remains. The following are the chief repositories of manuscripts, from which materials for the present publication have been procured the British Museum y, the Archbishop of Canterbury's Library at Lambeth, the State Paper Office a, the Chapter House at Westminster b, the Public Li y In the British Museum, besides several originals, there is a volume (Harl. MSS. 6148.) containing many copies of Letters written between April 1533 and the beginning of 1535. Mr. Ellis calls it "the Arch"bishop's rough copy book," (Orig. Letters, first series, cxIv.) and says that "the transcripts are entirely in Cranmer's hand." (Archæologia, vol. xviii. p. 77.) The handwriting, however, is certainly not Cranmer's, but that of the secretary usually employed by him to write his letters. It may be conjectured therefore to be a book, in which this secretary, probably Ralph Morice, entered his master's correspondence. And such seems to have been the opinion of Strype, who saw the volume, and copied sixty-eight of the letters, but not early enough to insert them in any of his works. His copies are now in the Lansdown Collection, (N°. 1045,) and are the authority from which several were printed in the Christian Remembrancer for November 1820. The book itself passed through the hands of Henry Ferrers, Ri. St. George, and Sir Henry St. George, Garter King at Arms, and abounds with pedigrees and other such matter; the heralds, it seems, having used it as waste paper, and written their memoranda without scruple on the parts of the leaves which happened to be unoccupied. z The Lambeth Library, besides some papers already printed, has furnished the Notes and Authorities on Justification. a The Letters from the State Paper Office have, with one or two exceptions, been lately printed in the State Papers, vol. i. London, 1831: but the Thirteen Articles of Faith mentioned above, p. xxii, with a few other documents preserved in this repository, have hitherto remained in manuscript. b The Chapter House contains above a hundred original Letters to Crumwell, extending from Cranmer's elevation to the see of Canterbury in Feb. 1533, to within a few months of Crumwell's execution in July 1540. Several of these have been recently published in Mr. Todd's Life of Cranmer, and in the State Papers: the remainder, together with a curious correspondence between the Archbishop and a Kentish Justice, have hitherto, it is believed, been unnoticed. |