Westmin of the Friars at Calice, with letters from your lordship unto ster; my Lord Deputy C, which I sent unto him incontinently; and Corres- reading the copy of the same, I could not but much allow pondence. Original. them, considering how frankly and freely you do admonish Crumwell's him and provoke him, as well to favour God's word, as also to the right administration of his room and office. And as for the Prior, according to your advertisement, I have him in safe custody, and so shall keep him until your return into these parties, and I doubt not but there will be matter enough for his deprivation. Thus Almighty God have your lordship in his blessed tuition. At Lambeth, the xviiith day of August. d I beseech your lordship to remember Mr. Hutton, that by your means he may have some occasion to come over into England. Your own ever assured, T. Cantuarien. To the Right Honourable and my Privy Seal. MSS. House, CCXXX. TO CRUMWELL. My very singular and especial good Lord, after my most Chapter hearty commendations unto your lordship; these shall be to Westmin- signify unto the same, that according to your letters to me Crumwell's addressed the 15th day of this present month, I sent for the Corres- Orators of Germany, and required them in the King's ster; pondence. Original. C с [Arthur Plantagenet, Lord Lisle. See Letter CCXLVIII.] [This postscript is written by Cranmer himself.] [Namely, Francis Burcard, Vice-Chancellor to the Elector of Saxony, George a Boyneburgh, Doctor of Laws, and Frederic Myconius, Superintendent of the Church at Gotha. They were ambassadors from John Frederic, Elector of Saxony, and Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, and came to England at the invitation of Henry VIII, for the purpose of forming a league against the Pope, and of drawing up by consultation with the English divines, a joint Confession of Faith. See Preface; Burnet, Ref. vol. i. Addend; Strype, Memorials, vol. i. p. 329; and in particular, Seckendorf, Comment. de Luther. lib. iii. §. LXVI. (6.) and Add. i., §. LXXIII. Add. ii. (f).] pt. ii. of Cran Grace's behalf, so gentilly as I could, to demore here until State Puhis Highness coming nearer into these parties; whereat pers, vol. 1. they were somewhat astonished, saying, that, at the King's Lett. cix. request, they would be very well content to tarry during his Todd, Life pleasure, not only a month or two, but a year or two, if they mer, vol. i. were at their own liberty; but forasmuch as they had been P. 250. so long from their princes, and had not all this season any letters from them, it was not to be doubted but that they were daily looked for at home, and therefore they durst not tarry, unless the King's Highness would make their excuse of their long abode here unto their princes; and yet therein they would give me no determinate answer by no means that time, but they would consult together and make me an answer the next day after. And the next day they were fully determined to depart within eight days; nevertheless after long reasoning, upon hope that their tarrying should grow unto some good success concerning the points of their commission, which I much put them in hope of on your behalf, they condescended and were very well contented to tarry for a month, so that they should be no longer detained; but that after the said month should be expired, they might take their leave, and so depart without farther tract of time, trusting that the King's Majesty would write unto their princes for their excuse in thus long tarrying; besides this they require in the mean time while they tarry here, that we may entreat of the abuses, and put the same articles in writing, as we have done the other 5, which thing I promised them; nevertheless I would gladly have the King's Grace's pleasure and commandment therein, whereby we shall the sooner finish the matter. 8 [The order pursued in these conferences was that which was marked out by the Confession of Augsburgh, namely, first to lay down the Chief Articles of Faith, and then to point out the abuses which needed correction. It seems that the two parties had come to an agreement on the former, and that the foreign ambassadors were now anxious to proceed to the discussion of the latter. In the Appendix will be found a Form of Doctrine from the State Paper Office, which may be conjectured to be the Chief Articles to which both parties had assented. See Preface; Letter from Myconius to Crumwell, in Strype, Memorials, vol. i. App. No. 95; and Letter ccxxxI.] Farther, by cause that I have in great suspect that St. Thomas of Canterbury h his blood, in Christ's Church in h [The date of this Letter shakes the credit of a story, which is not only related by Roman Catholic historians, but has been admitted by Wilkins into his Concilia, and believed by some other protestant writers. It is pretended, that Becket, before the spoliation of his shrine, was formally cited to appear at Westminster to stand his trial, and after the pleading of counsel on both sides, was pronounced guilty of rebellion and treason. Chrysostom Henriquez details the proceedings with much minuteness, and professes to give translations of the official instruments. Of these, the citation is dated the 24th of April; the sentence of confiscation, the 11th of June; and the King's warrant for its execution, the 11th of August, 1538. Surely, if all this had really taken place, if in fact the fate of Becket's tomb had been already sealed, Cranmer would scarcely, on the 18th of August, without the slightest allusion to the previous prosecution, have made the application which is contained in this Letter. But farther, it is also stated, that the sentence was carried into execution on the 19th of August; that the shrine was then plundered, and twenty-six waggon loads of treasure conveyed away. It happens singularly enough, that an account has been preserved of the reception at Canterbury about this time of Madame de Montreuil, a French lady of rank. Among other entertainments, it is related that she was taken to see the great wonder of the town, St. Thomas's shrine: "at the which she was not little mar"velled of the great riches thereof; saying to be innumerable, and "that if she had not seen it, all the men in the world could never have "made her to believe it. Thus overlooking and viewing more than "an hour as well the shrine as St. Thomas' head, being at both set "cushions to kneel, and the Prior opening St. Thomas' head, saying to "her three times 'This is St. Thomas' head,' and offered her to kiss it, "but she neither kneeled, nor would kiss it, but still viewing the riches "thereof." Now this visit took place on the 1st of Sept. 1538, nearly a fortnight after the time, at which the shrine according to the Roman Catholic authorities was plundered, and when therefore Madame de Montreuil, instead of admiring its splendour, ought to have been mourning over its fall. This comparison of dates overthrows completely the details of Henriquez's narrative, and excites also a strong suspicion, that the whole story of Becket's trial, notwithstanding the support which it derives from the language of a papal bull, is a fabrication. The motive for such a forgery is sufficiently obvious, since the papist would thus be furnished with materials for recrimination, when reproached by the protestant with the post mortem citations of Wiclif, Fagius, and Bucer. See Letter from Penison to Crumwell, in State Papers, vol. i. p. 583; Wilkins, Concilia, vol. iii. p. 835. 841; Lingard, Hist. of Engl. vol. vi. p. 359. 8vo; Todd, Life of Cranmer, vol. i. p. 242. The treasures however of Becket's tomb were not left long untouched after the visit of Madame de Montreuil; and perhaps their seizure may have been hastened by the information communicated by Cranmer in this Letter. The particulars of the spoliation are thus described by Stow, under Sept. 1538. "The shrine of Thomas Becket, in the Priory of "Christ Church, was taken to the King's use. This shrine was builded "about a man's height, all of stone, then upward of timber plain; "within the which was a chest of iron, containing the bones of Thomas Canterbury, is but a feigned thing, and made of some red ochre or of such like matter; I beseech your lordship that Doctor Lee and Doctor Barbork, my chaplains, may have the King's commission to try and examine that and all other like things there. Thus, my lord, right heartily fare you well, praying you to give farther credence unto this bearer. At Lambeth, the 18th day of August. Your own ever assured, To the Right Honourable and my very singular good lord, my Lord Privy Seal. T. Cantuarien. CCXXXI. TO CRUMWELL. MSS. Cleop. E. v. My very singular good Lord, in my most hearty wise I Cotton commend me unto your lordship. And where that the Orators of Germany, when they granted to tarry one month1, f. 212. Orirequired that we should go forth in their book and entreat of the abuses, so that the same might be set forth in Ref. vol. iii. 66 "Becket, skull and all, with the wound of his death, and the piece cut "out of his skull laid in the same wound. These bones (by command"ment of the Lord Crumwell) were then and there burnt.The spoil of which shrine in gold and precious stones filled two great chests, such as six or eight strong men could do no more than convey "one of them at once out of the church." Annals. A document in the State Paper Office printed by Collier, (vol. ii. No. 47.) contradicts the statement respecting the burning of the bones, and asserts that they were "according to reason collocate secretly, where there shall "be no cause of superstition given by them." These proceedings were followed in November by a royal proclamation, declaring that Thomas Becket was no saint, and commanding that his images should be put down throughout the realm, and his festival days no longer observed. Burnet, Ref. vol. iii. App. B. iii. No. 62. See also Crumwell's Injunctions of Sept. 1538.] i [Probably the Doctor Leigh, who was Cranmer's Commissary, and who seems in that capacity to have incurred the hatred of the papists. It may be doubted whether the Index to Strype is correct in identifying him with Thomas Legh, who had been one of the visitors of religious houses, and who was commissioned by the King in 1543, to inquire into the accusations against the Archbishop. See Strype, Cranmer, pp. 116. 120.] [Probably the same person who is mentioned in Letters ccv. CCXLI.] [See Letter ccxxx.] ginal. Burnet, App. B. iii. No. 48. n writing as the other articles are m; I have since effectiously moved the bishops thereto, but they have made me this answer; that they know that the King's Grace hath taken upon himself to answer the said Orators in that behalf, and thereof a book is already devised by the King's Majesty "; and therefore they will not meddle with the abuses, lest they should write therein contrary to that the King shall write. Wherefore they have required me to entreat now of the sacraments of matrimony, orders, confirmation, and extreme unction ; wherein they know certainly that the Germans will not agree with us, except it be in matrimony only. So that I perceive that the bishops seek only an occasion to break the concord; assuring your lordship that nothing shall be done, unless the King's Grace's special commandment be unto us therein directed. For they manifestly see that they cannot defend the abuses, and yet they would in no wise grant unto them. Farther, as concerning the Orators of Germany, I am advertised that they are very evil lodged where they be; for besides the multitude of rats daily and nightly running in their chambers, (which is no small disquietness,) the kitchen standeth directly against their parlour where they daily dine and sup, and by reason thereof the house savoureth so ill, that it offendeth all men that come into it P. Therefore, if your lordship do but offer them a more commodious house to demore in, I doubt not but that they will accept that offer most thankfully, albeit I am sure that they will not remove for this time. m n [See Letter ccxxx. note (g).] The Letter of the German ambassadors, and the King's answer, which was drawn up by Tunstall, may both be seen in Burnet, Ref. vol. i. Add. Nos. 7 and 8. The abuses most insisted on by the Germans were three; viz. the administration of the Eucharist in one kind only, the practice of private masses, and the forced celibacy of the clergy.] [These four out of the seven Romish_sacraments were omitted in the Augsburgh Confession; Baptism, the Lord's Supper, and Penance, being retained. See Sylloge Confessionum, Oxf. 1827.] P[Yet Seckendorf says, that they lived splendidly and kept a liberal table, and that their expenses were considered heavy by the German princes. Comm. de Luth. Lib. iii. §. LXVI. (9).] |