A.D. 1530. CH. 3. other universities, both in this and all other regions do: we, trusting in the dexterity and wisdom of you and other the said discreet and substantial learned men of that university, be in perfect hope that ye will conduce and frame the said young persons unto order and conformity as it becometh you to do. Whereof we be desirous to hear with incontinent diligence; and doubt you not we shall regard the demeanour of every one of the university according to their merits and deserts. And if the youth of the university will play masteries as they begin to do, we doubt not but they shall well perceive that non est bonum irritare crabrones.* Non est bonum irri tare crabrones. Oxford be comes obedient. Cambridge being similarly pressed, 'Given under our hand and seal, at our Castle of Windsor. 'HENRY R.'t It is scarcely necessary to say, that, armed with this letter, the heads of houses subdued the recalcitrance of the overhasty 'youth;' and Oxford duly answered as she was required to answer. The proceedings at Cambridge were not very dissimilar; but Cambridge being distinguished obeys also. by greater openness and largeness of mind on this as on the other momentous subjects of the day than the sister university, was able to preserve a more manly bearing, and escape direct humiliation. Cranmer had written a book upon the divorce in the preceding year, which, as * It is not good to stir a hornet's nest. A.D. 1530. coming from a well-known Cambridge man, had Cя. 3. occasioned a careful ventilation of the question there; the resident masters had been divided by it into factions nearly equal in number, though unharmoniously composed. The heads of houses, as at Oxford, were inclined to the king, but they were embarrassed and divided by the presence on the same side of the suspected liberals, the party of Shaxton, Latimer, and Cranmer himself. The agitation of many months had rendered all members of the university, young and old, so well acquainted (as they supposed) with the bearings of the difficulty, that they naturally resisted, as at the other university, the demand that their power should be delegated to a committee; and the Cambridge convocation, as well as that of Oxford, threw out this resolution when it was first proposed to them. A king's letter having made them more amenable, a list of the intended committee was drawn out, which, containing Latimer's name, occasioned a fresh storm. But the number in the senate house being nearly divided, the labour of certain friends' turned the scale; the vote passed, and the committee was allowed, on condition that the question should be argued publicly in the presence of the whole university. Finally, judgment was obtained on the king's side, though in a less absolute form than he had required, and the commissioners did not think it prudent to press for a more extreme conclusion. They had been desired to pronounce that the pope had no power to permit a man to marry his brother's widow. They consented only Сн. CH. 3. to say that a marriage within those degrees was contrary to the divine law; but the question of the pope's power was left unapproached.* A.D. 1530. The ViceChancellor judgment sor. mer ap the scene. It will not be uninteresting to follow this takes the judgment a further step, to the delivery of it into to Wind- the hands of the king, where it will introduce us to a Sunday at Windsor Castle three centuries ago. We shall find present there, as a significant Hugh Lati- symptom of the time, Hugh Latimer, appointed pears upon freshly select preacher in the royal chapel, but already obnoxious to English orthodoxy, on account of his Cambridge sermons. These sermons, it had been said, contained many things good and profitable, 'on sin, and godliness, and virtue,' but much also which was disrespectful to established beliefs, the preacher being clearly opposed to 'candles and pilgrimages,' and 'calling men unto the works that God commanded in his Holy Scripture, all dreams and unprofitable glosses set aside and utterly despised.' The preacher had, therefore, been cited before consistory courts and interdicted by bishops, 'swarms of friars and doctors flocking against Master Latimer on every side.' This also was to be noted about him, that he was one of the most fearless men who ever lived. Like John Knox, whom he much resembled, in whatever presence he might be, whether of poor or rich, of laymen or priests, of bishops or kings, he ever spoke out boldly from his pulpit what he thought, directly if necessary to particular per * BURNET'S Collectanea, p. 48. Preface to LATIMER's Sermons. Parker Society's edition, p. 3. A.D. 1530. sons whom he saw before him respecting their CH. 3. own actions. Even Henry himself he did not spare where he saw occasion for blame; and Henry, of whom it was said that he never was mistaken in a man-loving a man* where he could find him with all his heart-had, notwithstanding, chosen this Latimer as one of his own chaplains. master's The unwilling bearer of the Cambridge judgment was Dr. Buckmaster, the vice-chancellor, Dr. Buckwho, in a letter to a friend, describes his reception letter. at the royal castle. Windsor in 'To the right worshipful Dr. Edmonds, vicar Sunday at of Alborne, in Wiltshire, my duty remembered,- 1530. receives 'I heartily commend me unto you, and I let you understand that yesterday week, being Sunday at afternoon, I came to Windsor, and also to part of Mr. Latimer's sermon; and after the end of the same I spake with Mr. Secretary [Cromwell], and also with Mr. Provost; and so after evensong I delivered our letters in the Chamber The king of Presence, all the court beholding. The king, the reply with Mr. Secretary, did there read them; and did then give me thanks and talked with me a good while. He much lauded our wisdom and good conveyance in the matter, with the great quietness in the same. He showed me also what he had in his hands for our university, according to that which Mr. Secretary did express unto us, and so of Cam bridge. * King Harry loved a man,' was an English proverb to the close of the century. See SIR ROBERT NAUNTON's Fragmenta Regalia, London, 1641, p. 14. A.D. 1530. เ CH. 3. he departed from me. But by and bye he greatly praised Mr. Latimer's sermon; and in so praising said on this wise: This displeaseth greatly Mr. Vice-Chancellor yonder; yon same,' said he to the Duke of Norfolk, 'is Mr. Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge,' and so pointed unto me. Then he spake secretly unto the said duke, which, after the king's departure, came unto me and welcomed me, saying, among other things, the king would speak with me on the next day. And here is the first act. On the next day I waited until it was dinner time; and so at the last Dr. Butts, [king's physician,] came unto me, and brought a reward, twenty nobles for me, and five marks for the junior proctor which was with me, saying that I should take that for a resolute answer, and that I might depart from the court when I would. Then came Mr. Provost, and when I had shewed him of the answer, he said I should speak with the king after dinner for all that, and so he brought me into a privy place where after dinner he would have me wait. I came thither and he both; and by one of the clock the king entered in. It was Latimer at in a gallery. There were Mr. Secretary, Mr. Provost, Mr. Latimer, Mr. Proctor, and I, and no more. The king then talked with us until six of the clock. I assure you he was scarce contented with Mr. Secretary and Mr. Provost, that this was not also determined, an Papa possit dispensare. I made the best, and confirmed the same that they had shewed his Grace before; and how it would never have been so obtained. He opened his mind, saying he would have it determined Windsor. |