Henry determined on employing a priest who had taken no prominent part in any of the different phases through which the divorce case had passed, and whom he could elevate to the first sacerdotal dignity in England as a reward for his docility. He accordingly determined to bestow the Archbishopric of Canterbury on Cranmer, who at first rejected the proffered dignity, but not through any fear of taking on himself a situation so awfully responsible, for Cranmer could not boast, amongst the few virtues with which he was gifted, of either modesty or humility. The husband of Osiander's niece did not dare to accept the Archiepiscopal see of Canterbury; for in the eyes of Henry every married priest deserved either the wheel or the halter.(a)

Cranmer, after his marriage at Nuremberg, had prudently left his bride in Germany, in the hope of brighter days dawning in England, when Popery being uprooted from her island home, he might openly acknowledge his marriage, and as Luther, whose creed he had adopted respecting continence, might walk in the streets of Canterbury arm-in-arm with his wife.(b) Warham had died without gaining the crown of martyrdom which he had merited by his constant and persevering opposition to the attacks on the Church, and which he would have certainly obtained had he but lived a few years longer. He would doubtless have been one of that holy phalanx of confessors whom we shall soon see going to execution singing songs and hymns of thanksgiving.

Cromwell had repeatedly urged him to be silent; but the prelate was indefatigable to protest by word as well as by deed, against the anti-Catholic tendency of the Parliament. To those who urged that the government would not dare touch Warham, Cromwell replied that he would be hanged

(a) See Henry's letter to Luther, and the "Assertio septem Sacramentorum.”

(b) Mr. Todd thus explains the resistance of Cranmer to his appointment:-"There can be little doubt that he foresaw the difficulties and the danger that were likely, under a monarch so impetuous, and yet so superstitious as Henry, to surround the lofty station proposed to him. This, of itself, would lead him to decline the proposal. His recent marriage might strengthen this reluctance.".

in a gallows twice as high as that commonly used, out of respect to his title as Archbishop.(c) Tormented by the prayers of Henry and his friends, and seduced by the hope that the king's divorce would lead to the fall of Catholicism in England, Cranmer determined to become Warham's successor. Henry felt great confidence in the docility of the former frequenter of the Dolphin and the husband of Jacqueline. Was this confidence an insult or an act of justice to the new archbishop?. Cranmer was accordingly, to the surprise and sorrow of a great number of Catholics, nominated to the see of Canterbury.(d) They remembered the bill passed by the Parliament in 1531, a bill prohibiting the solicitation of all bulls from the Court of Rome. The king, however, requested them of Clement for the new prelate, which was immediately granted. There were eleven in all taxed at 900 ducats, which Cranmer paid from the revenues of his see, which, by the prince's order, he was to receive from the 9th of September of the preceding year.(e)

We have now arrived at one of the most curious phases in the life of Cranmer ;-the history of his oaths and perjuries. At first, ere he could take possession of his see, he took an oath of allegiance to the king as Archbishop elect. He then swore to renounce all and every clause, sentence, and injunction, contained in the divers bulls of the Pope, acknowledging that he only held his episcopal see during his majesty's good pleasure, to whom he promised on the gospel, and by God's help

(c) Le Grand.

(d) M. Parker, De Antiq. Brit.

(e) By the first of these bulls, Cranmer was promoted to the Archbishopric of Canterbury; by the second, elected Archbishop; by the third, absolved from every censure; the fourth is addressed to the suffragans; the fifth, to the dean and chapter; the sixth, to the clergy of Canterbury; the seventh, to the laity of the diocess; the eighth, to the tenants of all lands dependent on the see. These bulls are dated 21st February, 1533. By the ninth, (of the 22nd of the same month,) he was to be consecrated after taking the oaths prescribed by the Pontifical; by the tenth, he received the pallium; by the eleventh, the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of London were commanded to invest him with it.

obedience, and fidelity.(a) The ceremony | of the consecration took place at St. Peter's Abbey, Westminster, on the 30th of March, 1533. Cranmer's consecrating bishops were those of Lincoln, Exeter, and St. Asaph.(b) Before his consecration, the archbishop elect was obliged by the formula of the Pontifical to swear obedience and allegiance to the Holy See, with his hand laid on the holy gospel, and calling on God and the saints to witness. He was also obliged to swear that he submissively received the traditions of the Fathers and the constitutions of the Holy See, to promise obedience to St. Peter in the person of his Vicar, the Pope, and his successors, according to canonical authority, and to preserve chastity.(c) Cranmer no longer believed in either the authority of the Fathers or the constitutions of the Apostolic See. In his eye, the Pope was no longer the Vicar of Christ, or the head of the Church; but, on the contrary, his Holiness was marked with the sign of the beast on his forehead, to use the very expression of the Reformer, whose niece he had married. The vows of chastity, which he had just renewed, were in his opinion a piece of sacerdotal mummery, since he had been recently married at Nuremburg. The words he pronounced at his consecration were taken from a book which he rejected, as filled with idolatrous ceremonies. saints, whom he would invoke, were unable, according to his view, to hear him. His consecrating bishops belonged to that scarlet whore of Babylon, whom he had condemned while at supper with Osiander.

The

(a) I, Thomas Cranmer, renounce and utterly forsake all such clauses, words, sentences, and grants, which I have of the Pope's holiness in his bulls of the Archbishopric of Canterbury, that in any manner was, is, or may be hurtful, or prejudicial to your highness, your heirs, successors, estates, or dignity royal, knowing myself to take and hold the said archbishopric immediately and only of your highness and of none other. Most lowely beseeching the same for restitution of the temporalities of the said archbishopric: professing to be faithful, true, and obedient, subject to your said highness, your heirs and successors, during my life. So help me God and the holy evangelists.--MSS. Cleop. V.-Strype.

(b) Todd.

(c) Pontificale Romanum; in consecrat. Episcop.

At the time of his consecration he received, as bishop, power to raise those whom he should deem worthy to the priesthood, to breathe on the foreheads of the neophytes, to confer on them the power by their benediction of changing the bread and wine into the body and blood of JESUS CHRIST, to offer the Holy Sacrifice, and to say Mass as well for the living as the dead.(d) Cranmer no longer regarded the Mass in the light of a sacrifice, nor did he believe in prayers for the dead, nor in Purgatory, nor even in the Real Presence. He had left ail these superstitious nonsenses in his second wife's bed-chamber at Nuremberg; twice married he could not, according to the canons, have become a priest. What would he not do? Tear the Papal Bull, break his crozier, destroy his pallium, reject the Pontifical, and boldly proclaim his new faith? This would have been too courageous an act for Cranmer. Perjured before taking the oath, according to the expression of Cardinal Pole, he went, a few minutes before his consecration and by royal permission, into the chapel of St. Stephen, accompanied by four witnesses and a notary.(e) And in their presence he protested that, in the oath he was about to take, pro formá, to the Pope, he did not engage to perform any action contrary to the law of God or of the state, nor to offer any opposition to such reforms as the king might deem expedient to make in the Church of England; disavowing every kind of oath that his proctors at Rome might have taken contrary to that which he had taken to the king his master.()

Cranmer then returned to the church vested, and bending his steps towards the high altar, where the Bishops of Lincoln, Exeter, and St. Asaph awaited him, turned towards his witnesses, declared to them that he persisted in the protest he had just made,(a) lifted up his hand, and took the oath prescribed by the Pontifical on the open gospel. (b) He promised not to divulge any secret that the Pope might confide to him either directly or indirectly;

antè consecrationem, aut tempore ejusdem pro formâ potiùs quàm pro esse, aut re obligatorià ad illam obtinendam oporteat; non est nec erit meæ voluntatis aut intentionis, per hujusmodi juramentum vel juramenta, qualitercumque verba in ipsis posita sonare videbuntur, me obligare ad aliquod ratione eorumdem posthâc dicendum, faciendum aut attemptandum quod est aut esse videbitur contrà legem Dei, vel contrà illustrissimum regem nostrum Angliæ aut rempublicam hujus sui regni, Angliæ leges aut prærogativas ejusdem; et quod non intendo per hujusmodi juramentam aut juramenta quovis modo me obligare quominus liberê loqui consulere et consentire valeam in omnibus et singulis reformationem religionis christianæ, gubernationem Anglicanæ aut prærogativas coronæ ejusdem, reipublicæve commoditatem quoquo modo cernentibus, et ea ubique et secundùm hanc interpretationem et intellectum hunc et non aliter alio modo dicta juramenta me præstiturum protestor et profiteor. Protestorque insuper, quodcumque juramentum sit quod meus procurator summo pontifici, meo nomine antehac præstiterit, quòd non erat intentionis aut voluntatis meæ sibi aliquam dare potestatem cujus vigore et quòd juramentum meo nomine præstare aut imposterùm præstando præfato illustrissimo Angliæ regi. Et casu quòd aliquid tale contrarium aut repugnans juramentum meo nomine præstiterit, protestor quòd illud, me inscio et absque meâ auctoritate præstitum, pro nullo et invalido esse volo.-Strype.

con

(a) Manibus suis tenens, ante lecturam ejusdem scedule et juramenti in eodem contenti prestacionem, in meâ et eorumdem testium presentiâ asseruit et protestatus est se dictam cedulam lecturum ac juramentum inibi insertum præstiturum sub premissis protestacionibus aliàs per eumdem eo die în dicto domo capitulari in meâ et eorumdem testium presentiâ habitis et factis et non aliter neque alio modo.-Lambeth, MSS., No. 1136. -The above is the deposition of the notary Watkins, taken at Cranmer's trial in 1555. (b) Lambeth MSS., No. 1136.

he promised to defend the Holy See and its rights; he promised to treat the Apostolic Legates with due honour, and to assist them as far as lay in his power; he promised, too, his homage to the Pope once every two years; he promised neither to sell, alienate, or pledge his episcopal posessions without the sanction of the Sovereign Pontiff.(c) The ceremony of the anointing commenced. As soon as he had been consecrated, Cranmer again reminded his witnesses of the protest; (d) took the oath of allegiance, for the second time, to the Pontiff, and received the pallium from the Papal delegates.(e) Three oaths and three separate acts of perjury in three hours! Cranmer, on taking off his mitre, must have been delighted with his day's work, if it be true, as a modern historian suggests, (f) that these oaths and acts of perjury were only a proof of the candour and loyalty of the Archbishop.

(c) Ego Thomas, electus Cantuariensis ab hâc hora, ut anteà fidelis et obediens ero B. Petro, Sanctæ apostolicæ romanæ Ecclesiæ et domino meo Clementi VII., suisque successoribus canonicè intrantibus. Non ero in consilio aut consensu, vel facto, ut vitam perdant, vel membrum, seu capiantur malâ captione. Consilium verò quod mihi credituri sunt per se aut nuncios ad eorum damnum, me sciente nemini pandam. Papatum romanum et regalia Sancti Petri, adjutor eis ero ad retinendum et defendendum, salvo meo nomine, contrà omnem hominem. Legatum sanctæ sedis apostolicæ in eundo et redeundo honorificè tractabo et in suis necessitatibus adjuvabo. Vocatus ad synodum veniam nisi præpeditus fuero canonicâ præpeditione. Apostolorum limina romanâ curiâ existente citrà Alpes singulis annis; ultrà verò montes singulis bienniis visitabo per me aut per meum nuntium, nisi absolvat li centia. Possessiones verò ad mensam mei episcopatus pertinentes non vendam, neque donabo, neque impignerabo, neque de novo infeudabo, vel aliquo modo alienabo, inconsulto romano pontifice. Sic me Deus adjuvet et hæc Sancta Evangelia.-Strype, Eccl. Memorials. (d) Lambeth MSS., No. 1136. (e) Lambeth MSS., ib.

(f) "Is a proof of his candour and integrity."-Soames. Bossuet was of another opinion; and, in consequence of that, Mr. Todd says of him, "Even Bossuet has descended to the rank of a slanderer of Cranmer."-See Hallam's Constit. History of England.

THE Archbishop of Canterbury continued, as he had commenced, his twofold character. Henry, secure of his accomplice, resolved to obtain from the clergy assembled in convocation the divorce which he had in vain attempted to wrest from the Pope during the last five years. The preliminaries of the proceedings were intrusted to Cromwell. As Katharine had it in her power, by claiming the protection of the Pope, to put a stop to any measure Cranmer might desire to commence, the Parliament forbade her to appeal under pain of the statute of Præmunire, inprisonment and confiscation being awarded for every appeal from the sentence of the spiritual to Rome,(a) and thus enchained the tongue, which they could not cut. The members of the convocation were divided into two classes;theologians and canonists. To the one belonged the religious question; to the other the question of canon law. The theologians were asked if a dispensation from the Pope could sanction a brother marrying his widowed sister-in-law, in case of the first marriage having been consummated. The canonists were asked if the depositions taken before the legates proved that the marriage had been consummated. The discussion lasted two days, under the presidency of Cranmer,(b)_when the votes were taken. The theologians were consulted by ayes and noes. To the question, whether Henry had lawfully married Katharine, sixty-six decided in the

negative, and sixteen in the affirmative.(c) Out of forty-four canonists, six only voted against Henry.

At the convocation at York, which took place on the 6th of May following, the same mode of proceedings was carried on, and there were only two dissentients in each department.(d) There was then played a scene between Henry and Cranmer, or vice versa,(®) (for we are not certain which was the principal actor,) comparable only to the farces enacted on the Italian boards. The archbishop requested from the king permission to try the case as primate in the Archiepiscopal Court of Canterbury, and thus avoid the dangers menacing the succession. Henry refused, not that he did not foresee the dangers menacing the succession, but because Cranmer had stated in his petition that he would judge the spiritual cause by virtue of the Divine Laws of Holy Church (1) Henry was adverse to such an expression being again used. The archbishop, penitent for his fault, became more urgent. Prostrate at the feet of his sovereign, he again requested permission, but this time in the name of God alone, to pronounce on the validity of the marriage.(5) The king yielded, but at the same time reminded the

archbishop that, as king, he recognised no other master than God on earth, and would be submissive to the authority of no created being, and as the minister of the master of all spiritual jurisdiction in the kingdom wished to decide the question in the name of GOD ALONE, he could no longer resist his humble petition.(a) As a consequence of this epistolary intrigue, a court of justice was formed at Dunstable, about four or five miles from Ampthill, where Katharine had been exiled. Couriers were in readiness who were to convey to Cromwell the various transactions of each day.(b) Cranmer had requested the secretary to keep the holding of this court a profound secret from all; for if it had been known, Katharine. perhaps, might have made up her mind to appear, and, notwithstanding the late statute, would not have failed to appeal to Rome; a step which would have entirely disconcerted their plans and prolonged the trial. (c) The king only required secrecy and promtitude.

On the appointed day (8th May, 1533) the primate, assisted by Longland, Bishop of Lincoln, Gardiner, recently elected to the see of Winchester, Drs. Claybrooke, Tregonwell, Bell, Hervey, Oliver, Bretton, Mr. Bedyll, (d) and other canonists, took his seat as president; both Henry and Katharine had been summoned. On Saturday the king appeared by deputy, but Katharine refused to acknowledge the authority of the court. A second writ was issued and served on the queen, and on the following Monday, witnesses were called to

(a) In consideration whereof, albeit we, being your king and souverayne, do recognyse no superiour in yerth, but onely God, and not being subjecte to the laws of other erthely creature; yet bycause ye be, under us, by Goddis callying and owers, the moste pryncipall mynsyster of our spirituall jurisdiction, within this our realme, who we think assuredly is so in the feare of God and love towardes thobservance of this lawse, tho the whiche laws we, as a Christen Kyng, have alwayse heretofore, and shall ever moste obedyently submyt ourself, will not therefore refuse (our preeminent powr and aucthoritie to us, and our successours, in this behalf, nevertheless saved) your humble requeste, offer, and towardnes.-MSS Harl., Vol. 283, p. 97.

(b) Lingard.

(c) Heylin, Ecclesia restaurata, the History of the Reformation of the Church of England. d) Thomas Bedyll was clerk of the council.

prove the serving of this second citation, as also to prove the consummation of the marriage between her and the Prince of Wales. Katharine was pronounced "Verily and manifestly contumacious." On the Saturday following, Katharine was cited for the third time to hear sentence pronounced; but she still preserved the same silence; and on the Friday after the Festival of the Ascension the court assembled, and Cranmer, as president, pronounced the sentence: "The marriage between Katharine and Henry is, in the name of God, declared null and void, as having been contracted and consummated in violation of the Divine Law."(e) The judges left their seats, and one of them, Mr. Bedyll, hastened to write to Cromwell: "My Lord of Canterbury has behaved with great prudence and rare skill, so that even the counsel of Lady Katharine, had she employed any, would not have suspected him of partiality."(f)

The sentence of the court at Dunstable was immediately communicated to the king, when Cranmer, imitating St. John the Baptist, bade the prince submit to the decree of heaven, whose wrath he would most certainly incur, were he to persist in living with his brother's widow; yet Henry had ceased cohabiting with Katharine for three years, and Anne had now been enceinte for nearly six months.(8)

Cardinal Pole pretends that Cranmer could not have been serious in thus menacing Henry with Divine vengeance.(h) But matters were not yet at an end. Many curious questions unfavourable to Henry's honour were raised. It was asked how the king could contract a new marriage before the first had been dissolved! What was the actual position of the Princess Mary, since the court at Lambeth had decided that the king's only child had been conceived and born in incest? Who was the heir to the throne, the Princess Mary,