Сн. A.D. 1531. What he was con tending against. CH. 4. the one spot left within the island on which the banner of St. George still floated-with a corps of friars in hair shirts and chains, who are also soon to be introduced to us, and an inspired prophetess at their head preaching rebellion in the name of God with his daughter, and his daughter's mother in league against him, some forty thousand clergy to be coerced into honest dealing, and the succession to the crown floating in uncertainty-finally, with excommunication hanging over himself, and at length falling, and his deposition pronounced, Henry, we may be sure, had no easy time of it, and no common work to accomplish; and all these things ought to be present before our minds, as they were present before his mind, if we would see him as he was, and judge him as we would be judged the fine for ourselves. Leaving disaffection to mature itself, we return to the struggle between the House of Commons and the bishops, which recommenced in the following winter; first pausing to notice a clerical interlude of some illustrative importance which took place in the close of the summer. The The levy of clergy, as we saw, were relieved of their premunire on engaging to pay 118,000 pounds within five years. They were punished for their general offences; the formal offence for which they were condemned being one which could not fairly be considered an offence at all. When they came to discuss therefore the manner in which the money was to be levied, they naturally quarrelled among themselves as to where the burden of the fine the premunire. rangements should fairly rest, and a little scene has been pre- CH. 4. served to us by Hall, through which, with mo- A.D. 1531. mentary distinctness, we can look in upon those poor men in their perplexity. The bishops had Private arsettled among themselves that each diocese should of the make its own arrangements; and some of these bishops. great persons intended to spare their own shoulders to the utmost decent extremity. With this object, Stokesley, Bishop of London, who was just then very busy burning heretics, and therefore in bad odour with the people, resolved to call a meeting of five or six of his clergy, on whom he could depend; and passing quietly with their assistance such resolutions as seemed convenient, to avoid in this way the more doubtful expedient of a large assembly. and Sept. 1. Sep- the Chap The The necessary intimations were given, the meeting was to be held on the 1st of tember, in the Chapter-house of St. Paul's. bishop arrived at the time appointed, but happily for his hopes, not only the chosen six, but with them six hundred of the clergy of Middlesex, accompanied by a mob of the London citizens, all gathered in a crowd at the Chapterhouse door, and clamouring to be admitted. Meeting at ter-house of St. Paul's. The bishop, trusting in the strength of the chains and bolts, and still hoping to manage the affair officially, sent out a list of persons who might be allowed to take part in the proceedings, and these with difficulty made their way to the entrance. A rush was made by the others as An indecothey were going in, and there was a scuffle, which ceeding. ended for the moment in the victory of the rous pro A.D. 1531. เ CH. 4. officials: but the triumph was of brief duration; the excluded clergy were now encouraged by the people; they returned vigorously to the attack, broke down the doors, struck the bishop's officers over the face,' and the whole crowd, priests and laity, rushed together, storming and shouting, into the Chapter-house. The scene may be easily imagined; dust flying, gowns torn, heads broken, well-fed faces in the hot September weather steaming with anger and exertion, and every voice in loudest outcry. At length the clamour was partially subdued, and the bishop, beautifully equal to the emergency, arose bland and per The bishop with the suasive. 'My brethren,' he said, 'I marvel not a little silver why ye be so heady. Ye know not what shall tongue. be said to you, therefore I pray you keep silence, and hear me patiently. My friends, ye all know that we be men, frail of condition and no angels; and by frailty and lack of wisdom we have misdemeaned ourselves towards the king our sovereign lord and his laws; so that all we of the clergy were in premunire, by reason whereof all our promotions, lands, goods, and chattels were to him forfeit, and our bodies ready to be imprisoned. Yet his Grace, moved with pity and compassion, demanded of us what we could say why he should not extend his laws upon us. 'Then the fathers of the clergy humbly besought his Grace for mercy, to whom he answered he was ever inclined to mercy. Then for all our great offences we had but little penance; for when he might, by the rigour of his laws, A.D. 1531. have taken all our livelihoods, he was contented CH. 4. with one hundred thousand pounds, to be paid in five years. And though this sum may be more than we may easily bear, yet, by the rigour of his law, we should have borne the whole burden; whereupon, my brethren, I charitably exhort you to bear your parts of your livelihood and salary towards payment of this sum granted. * The clergy The clergy money, The ingenuity of this address deserved all The sanipraise; but the beauty of the form was insuffi- tary fines. cient to disguise the inconclusiveness of the reasoning. It confessed an offence which the hearers knew to be none; the true provocation which had led to the penalty-the unjust extortion of the high church officials-was ignored. The crowd laughed and hooted. fiercely tightened their purse-strings, and the will give no bishop was heard out with hardly restrained indignation. My lord,' it was shortly answered by one of them, 'twenty nobles a year is but a bare living for a priest. Victual and all else is now so dear that poverty enforceth us to say nay. Besides that, my lord, we never meddled with the cardinal's faculties. Let the bishops and abbots which have offended pay.' followed and shouts of applause. Loud clamour The bishop's officers gave the priests high words. The priests threw back the taunts as they came; and the London citizens, delighting in the scandalous quarrel, hounded on the opposition. From words But only they passed to blows; the bedell and vergers tried high words * HALL, p. 783. and hard blows. A.D. 1531-2 เ CH.4. to keep order, but were buffeted and stricken,** and the meeting broke up in wild uproar and confusion. For this matter five of the lay crowd and fifteen London curates were sent to the Tower by Sir Thomas More; but the undignified manoeuvre had failed, and the fruit of it was but fresh disgrace. United, the clergy might have defied the king and the parliament; but in the The race of race of selfishness the bishops and high dignitaselfishness. ries had cared only for their own advantage. They had left the poorer members of their order with no interest in common with that of their superiors, beyond the shield which the courts consented to extend over moral delinquency; and in the hour of danger they found themselves left naked and alone to bear the storm as they were able. This incident, and it was perhaps but one of many, is not likely to have softened the disposition of the Commons, or induced them to entertain more respectfully the bishops' own estimate of their privileges. The convocation and the parliament met simultaneously, on the 15th of parliament January, and the conflict, which had been for two vocation. years in abeyance, recommenced. The initial Jan. 15. Meeting of and of con measure was taken by convocation, and this body showed a spirit still unsubdued, and a resolution to fight in their own feebly tyrannical manner to the last. A gentleman in Gloucestershire had lately died, by name Tracy. In his last testa *The bishop was brought in desperation of his life.'-Rolls House MS., second series, 532. This paper confirms Hall's account in every point. |