by adultery, as to establish the lawfulness of another marriage. And the Marquis of Northampton was in consequence authorized to cohabit with a second wife, whom he had thought fit to marry pending the deliberations i.

Visitation.

No other production by Cranmer, dated in the year 1548, Articles of now remains to be noticed, besides the Articles of Inquiry issued at his Visitation. These are the earliest Articles of Inquiry by him that have been discovered, though probably he had circulated many on former similar occasions. With regard to Injunctions, to which such Articles were usually preparatory, we are rather more fortunate. Besides those of Crumwell in 1536 and 1538, and of King Edward in 1547, (all of which are supposed, with reason, to have had the benefit of his assistance,) we possess others sent in his own name to the diocese of Hereford, during the vacancy of the see in 1538k. These however are very short, being apparently a mere supplement to the Injunctions already published under Royal authority, which they order to be observed with “all diligence and faithful obedience." The points chiefly insisted on in them, are the study of the Bible both by clergy and laity; the distinction between works commanded by God, and those which are done "of "men's own will and devotion;" the restraint on the preaching of friars and other members of religious orders; the preparation for receiving the sacrament; and the importance of the bond of matrimony. The proceedings on his Visitation in 1548 have met with a different fate. Here the Injunctions are lost, but the Articles of Inquiry are preserved.

iThis second marriage was farther confirmed four years afterwards by an Act of Parliament, but was annulled in the reign of Mary. The bond of matrimony however, according to the decision of these delegates, was still held to be dissoluble by the Ecclesiastical Courts till 1602, when a contrary judgment was given by Bancroft in the case of Foljambe. 3 Salk. 138.

k Vol. ii. p. 19.

1 Injunctions were certainly given by the Archbishop either at this

Visitation of the

Canter

bury.

These are eighty-six in number, and enter with great minuteness into the conduct both of the clergy and the laity. A considerable proportion of them seem to have been framed for the purpose of ascertaining how far the King's Injunctions of the preceding year had been observed, and may be considered to point out those parts of them which were obeyed with the greatest reluctance. The new subjects of examination now introduced, have a different, though not less important use. They serve to mark the progress of reformation, both by reference to recent improvements, and by their notice of such abuses as in the former Visitation it had been thought fit to overlook. Questions, for instance, were asked respecting the performance of divine service at convenient hours, and the use of the new Communion Book: and various superstitious practices, untouched by the previous Injunctions, were inquired into with a view to their suppression.

Another Visitation by Archbishop Cranmer, of which Chapter of some memorials are extant, was held two years later, in September 1550. He then however visited, not his diocese, but the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury; a body with which he had already been much connected, having taken an active part in remodelling it in 15401, and having also interpreted a doubtful statute in 1546 m. The Inquiries of a collegiate were of course more limited in their character than those of a diocesan Visitation; but they will be found to display the same anxiety to extirpate superstitious practices, to repress strife, idleness, and immorality, and to promote "true religion and useful learning." It may be

n

or some other diocesan Visitation shortly afterwards, as they are referred to in those which he delivered to the Chapter of Canterbury two years later. See Vol. ii. p. 200.

presumed, from the brevity of the Injunctions which followed them, that the Chapter was on the whole in a satisfactory state of discipline. These relate chiefly to the observance of the Injunctions already devised either by the King or himself, to the regulations for preaching and for the administration of the communion, to the management of the grammar school, and to the restriction of the intercourse between the precinct of the Church and the city P.

tions. 1549.

The year 1549 called for the exertions of Cranmer on a Insurrecvery different field from that on which he had been hitherto employed. Instead of maturing schemes of reformation, he was now obliged to write against rebellion; alarming insurrections having broken out in most parts of England. These seem to have originated partly in political and partly in religious feelings 4. The gentry, particularly those who had shared in the spoils of the dissolved monasteries, were exceedingly unpopular. Their mode of managing their newly acquired property was contrasted, much to their disadvantage, with that of the ecclesiastics whom they had succeeded. They were accused of being more rigorous in the exaction of rents, and less liberal in the distribution of alms. And their general conduct, but especially their eagerness for the enclosure of commons, was said to betray a total disregard for the welfare of the poor, and a care for nothing but their own immediate profit and pleasure. The discontent arising from these causes was still farther aggravated by the recent innovations in religion. The ancient system, addressing itself to the senses, rather than to the understanding or the heart, and insisting more upon outward observances than inward holiness, was well calculated

o Vol. ii. p. 200.

P Both the Articles and the Injunctions of this Visitation are now first printed from manuscripts at the British Museum and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

Holinshed, vol. iii. p. 1002. 1028; Foxe, Acts, &c. vol. ii. p. 665; Strype, Cranmer, p. 185; Memorials, vol. ii. p. 166.

Insurrec

tion in De

to captivate a rude and ignorant people; and without doubt possessed a strong hold on their affections. Hence there were large numbers of the lower orders, who were filled with horror and indignation, on finding the ceremonies to which they trusted for salvation, condemned by the government as idle and superstitious. It was not difficult for the ejected monks to kindle such angry feelings into open rebellion and accordingly the peasantry rose in almost all directions for the redress, as they alleged, of their wrongs.

Some of these risings were quickly put down: but others, vonshire. that broke out in Devonshire and Norfolk, being more widely extended and better organized than the rest, assumed a very formidable character. These were distinguished from each other by the different nature of the alleged grievances. The rebels in the West clamoured chiefly for the restoration of the old religion: those of Norfolk for the amendment of the commonwealth'. The complaints of the former are preserved in two instruments successively presented to the King; the first consisting of Eights Articles,

Though these were the general characteristics of the two insurrections, there were of course political malcontents in the Western camp, and religious ones in that of Norfolk. Foxe gives the following account of the divisions among the Devonshire rebels: "At length, laying their "traitorous heads together, they consulted upon certain articles to be sent up. But herein such diversity of heads and wits was amongst "them, that for every kind of brain there was one manner of article; "so that there neither appeared any consent in their diversity, nor yet any constancy in their agreement. Some seemed more tolerable. "Other altogether unreasonable. Some would have no justice. Some "would have no state of gentlemen. The priests ever harped upon one "string, to ring in the Bishop of Rome into England again, and to "halloo home Cardinal Poole, their countryman. After much ado, and "little to the purpose, at last a few sorry articles were agreed upon." Acts and Monuments, vol. ii. p. 666. The preponderating influence of the priests is sufficiently manifest from the character of these Articles, which demand almost exclusively the redress of religious grievances.

Holinshed calls them nine, Burnet eight, Strype seven; but the Articles are in each case the same, being only differently arranged.

the second of Fifteen. These documents, besides their importance in other respects, are valuable as an unquestionable authority for ascertaining, both what was most regretted in the abrogated Romish ritual, and what was most offensive in the system established in its stead. The points on which a return to the ancient practice was most earnestly pressed", were the private Latin mass; the worshipping of the host; the distribution of the sacrament at Easter alone to the laity, and then but in one kind; the administration of baptism on the week days, as well as on the holydays; the use of holy bread and holy water, of palms, ashes, images, and all other ancient ceremonies; and the praying for souls in purgatory. The innovations which occasioned the most bitter complaints, were the introduction of the new English Service, "because "it was but like a Christmas game;" and the circulation of the English Bible, because it would disable the clergy from "confounding the heretics." Besides the redress of these evils, the rebels demanded also, that all the holy decrees of General Councils and of their forefathers should be observed; that Henry VIII.'s Act of the Six Articles should be again enforced; that half of the lands of the dissolved abbeys should be surrendered for the purpose of founding new establishments; that gentlemen should be limited in the number of their servants; that Cardinal Pole should be pardoned and admitted to the Privy Council; and that their local grievances should be arranged to the satisfaction of their representatives, Humphry Arundel, and Bray, the Mayor of Bodmin.

t

Such was the substance of the two addresses from Devon

Strype speaks of a third supplication sent to the King, to which an answer was made by the King's learned counsel. But neither the supplication nor the answer appears to be extant; and perhaps the passage in Foxe, (vol. ii. p. 669.) from which Strype derived his information, may relate to the Fifteen Articles and Cranmer's Reply.

" Vol. ii. p. 202, &c.