History of England from the fall of Wolsey to the death of Elizabeth Volume III Part 37

[87] Among the unarranged MSS. in the State Paper Office is a long and most elaborate explanation of the evils which had been created by the system of uses. It is a paper which ought to find its place in the history of English landed tenure; and when the arrangement of these MSS.

now in progress is completed, it will be accessible to any inquirer.

[88] "Masters, there is a statute made whereby all persons be restrained to make their will upon their lands; for now the eldest son must have all his father's lands; and no person, to the payment of his debts, neither to the advancement of his daughters' marriages, can do nothing with their lands, nor cannot give to his youngest son any lands."--Speech of Mr. Sheriff Dymock, at Horncastle: _Rolls House MS._ A 2. 29.

"They want the Statute of Uses qualified, that a man be allowed to bequeath part of his lands by will. It will invade the old accustomed law in many things."--Examination of Aske: MS. ibid. "Divers things should be reformed, and especially the Act of Uses. Younger brothers would none of that in no wise."--Earl of Oxford to Cromwell: _Miscellaneous MSS._ State Paper Office, second series, Vol. I.

[89] The depositions of prisoners taken after the rebellion are full of evidence on this point. George Gisborne says: "We were in mind and will to meet for certain causes, the which concerned the living of the poor people and commons, the which they say be sore oppressed by gentlemen, because their livings is taken away."--_Rolls House MS._ miscellaneous, first series, 132.

Wm. Stapleton says: "Among the causes of the insurrection were pulling down of villages and farms, raising of rents, enclosures, intakes of the commons, wors.h.i.+pful men taking yeomen's offices, that is, becoming dealers in farm produce."--_Rolls House MS._

I am tempted to add a pet.i.tion sent from one of the discontented districts to the crown, which betrays great ignorance of political economy, although it exhibits also a clear understanding both of the pet.i.tioners' sufferings and of the immediate causes of those sufferings.

"Please it your n.o.ble Grace to consider the great indigence and scarcity of all manner of victual necessary to your subjects within this realm of England, which doth grow daily more and more, by reason of the great and covetous misusages of the farms within this your realm; which misusages and the inconveniences thereof hath not only been begun and risen by divers gentlemen of the same your realm, but also by divers and many merchant adventurers, clothmakers, goldsmiths, butchers, tanners, and other artificers and unreasonable covetous persons, which doth encroach daily many farms more than they can occupy in tilth of corn; ten, twelve, fourteen, or sixteen farms in one man's hands at once; when in time past there hath been in every farm of them a good house kept, and in some of them three, four, five, or six ploughs kept and daily occupied, to the great comfort and relief of your subjects of your realm, poor and rich. For when every man was contented with one farm, and occupied that well, there was plenty and reasonable price of everything that belonged to man's sustenance by reason of tillage; forasmuch as every acre of land tilled and ploughed bore the straw and the chaff besides the corn, able and sufficient with the help of the shakke in the stubbe to succour and feed as many great beasts (as horses, oxen, and kine) as the land would keep; and further, by reason of the hinderflight of the crops and seeds tried out in cleansing, winnowing, and sifting the corn, there was brought up at every barn-door hens, capons, geese, ducks, swine, and other poultry, to the great comfort of your people. And now, by reason of so many farms engrossed in one man's hands, which cannot till them, the ploughs be decayed, and the farmhouses and other dwelling-houses; so that when there was in a town twenty or thirty dwelling-houses they be now decayed, ploughs and all the people clean gone, and the churches down, and no more paris.h.i.+oners in many parishes, but a neatherd and a shepherd instead of three score or four score persons."--_Rolls House MS._ miscellaneous, second series, 854.

[90] Abbot of York to Cromwell--_Miscellaneous MS._ State Paper Office, second series, Vol. LII.

[91] See a very remarkable letter of Sir William Parr to Cromwell, dated April 8, 1536, a few months only before the outbreak of the rebellion: _Miscellaneous MS._ State Paper Office, second series, Vol. x.x.xI.

[92] It was said that the visitors' servants had made apparel, doublets, yea, even saddle-cloths, of the churches' vestments.--Examination of John Dakyn: _Rolls House MS._ miscellaneous, first series, 402.

[93] _Rolls House MS._

[94] Ibid., Miscellaneous, first series, 402.

[95] Aske's Deposition: _Rolls House MS._

[96] Depositions on the Rebellion, _pa.s.sim_, among the MSS. in the State Paper Office and the Rolls House.

[97] George Lumley, the eldest son of Lord Lumley, said in his evidence that there was not a spiritual man in the whole north of England who had not a.s.sisted the rebellion with arms or money.--_Rolls House MS._

[98] The parish priest of Wyley, in Ess.e.x, had been absent for three weeks in the north, in the month of August, and on returning, about the 2d of September, said to one of his villagers, Thomas Rogers, "There shall be business shortly in the north, and I trust to help and strengthen my countrymen with ten thousand such as I am myself; and I shall be one of the worst of them all. The king shall not reign long."--Confession of Thomas Rogers: _MS. State Paper Office_, second series, Vol. x.x.x. p. 112.

[99] Deposition of Thomas Brian: _Rolls House MS._ A 2, 29.

[100] We find curious and humorous instances of monastic rage at this time. One monk was seen following a plough, and cursing his day that he should have to work for his bread. Another, a Welshman, "wished he had the king on Snowdon, that he might souse his head against the stones."--Depositions on the Rebellion: _Rolls House MS._

[101] Sir Robert Dighton and Sir Edward Dymmock said they heard many of the priests cry, "Kill the gentlemen." The parson of Cowbridge said that the lords of the council were false harlots; and the worst was Cromwell.

"The vicar of Haynton, having a great club in his hand, said that if he had Cromwell there he would beat out his guts." "Robert Brownwhite, one of the parsons of Nether Teynton, was with bow and arrows, sword and buckler by his side, and sallet on his head; and when he was demanded how he did, he said, 'None so well;' and said it was the best world that ever he did see." My story, so far, is taken from the Miscellaneous Depositions, _Rolls MS._ A 2, 28; from the Examination of William Moreland, _MS._ A 2, 29; and from the Confession of John Brown, _Rolls House MS._, first series, 892.

[102] Very opposite stories were told of the behaviour of the gentlemen.

On one side it was said that they were the great movers of the insurrection; on the other, that they were forced into it in fear of their lives. There were many, doubtless, of both kinds; but it seems to me as if they had all been taken by surprise. Their conduct was that of men who wished well to the rising, but believed it had exploded inopportunely.

[103] The plough was to encourage the husbandmen; the chalice and host in remembrance of the spoiling of the Church; the five wounds to the couraging of the people to fight in Christ's cause; the horn to signify the taking of Horncastle--Philip Trotter's Examination; _Rolls House MS._ A 2, 29.

[104] Examination of Brian Staines: _Rolls House MS._ A 2, 29. In the margin of this doc.u.ment, pointing to the last paragraph, is an ominous finger ?, drawn either by the king or Cromwell.

[105] Compare the Report of Lancaster Herald to Cromwell, _MS. State Paper Office_, second series, Vol. XIX.: "My especial good lord, so far as I have gone, I have found the most corrupted and malicious spiritualty, inward and partly outward, that any prince of the world hath in his realm; and if the truth be perfectly known, it will be found that they were the greatest corrupters of the temporality, and have given the secret occasion of all this mischief."

[106] Lord Hussey to the Mayor of Lincoln: _Cotton. MS. Vespasian_, F 13.

[107] _Rolls House MS._ first series, 416. Cutler's Confessions MS.

ibid. 407. Deposition of Robert Sotheby: Ibid. A 2, 29.

[108] Lord Shrewsbury to the King: _MS. State Paper Office_. Letter to the king and council, Vol. V. Hollinshed tells a foolish story, that Lord Shrewsbury sued out his pardon to the king for moving without orders. As he had done nothing for which to ask pardon, so it is certain, from his correspondence with the king, that he did not ask for any. Let me take this opportunity of saying that neither Hollinshed, nor Stow, nor even Hall, nor any one of the chroniclers, can be trusted in their account of this rebellion.

[109] _MS. State Paper Office_, first series.

[110] "My lord: Hugh Ascue, this bearer, hath shewed me that this day a servant of Sir William Hussey's reported how that in manner, in every place by the way as his master and he came, he hath heard as well old people as young pray G.o.d to speed the rebellious persons in Lincolns.h.i.+re, and wish themselves with them; saying, that if they came that way, that they shall lack nothing that they can help them unto. And the said Hugh asked what persons they were which so reported, and he said _all_; which is a thing as meseemeth greatly to be noted."--Sir William Fitzwilliam to Lord Cromwell: _MS. State Paper Office_, second series, Vol. VI.

[111] Richard Cromwell to Lord Cromwell: _MS. State Paper Office_, second series, Vol. VII.

[112] "Nothing we lament so much as that they thus fly; for our trust was that we should have used them like as they have deserved; and I for my part am as sorry as if I had lost five hundred pounds. For my lord admiral (Sir John Russell), he is so earnest in the matter, that I dare say he would eat them with salt."--Richard Cromwell to Lord Cromwell: _MS. State Paper Office_.

[113] Henry VIII. to the Rebels in Lincolns.h.i.+re: _State Papers_, Vol. I.

p. 463, &c.

[114] Confession of Thos. Mayne: _Rolls House MS._ first series, 432.

[115] Confession of Thos. Mayne: _Rolls House MS._ first series, 432.

[116] Henry VIII. to the Duke of Suffolk: Ibid. 480.

[117] Wriothesley to Cromwell: _State Papers_, Vol. I. p. 471.

Examination of the Prisoners: _Rolls House MS._

[118] Henry VIII. to the Duke of Suffolk: _Rolls House MS._ first series, 480.

[119] "The captain and the Earl of c.u.mberland came of two sisters."--Lord Darcy to Somerset Herald: _Rolls House MS._

[120] _State Papers_, Vol. I. p. 523.

[121] Manner of the taking of Robert Aske: _Rolls House MS._ A 2, 28.

[122] "There was a letter forged in my name to certain towns, which I utterly deny to be my deed or consent."--Narrative of Robert Aske: _Rolls House MS._ A 2, 28. This is apparently the letter which is printed in the _State Papers_, Vol. I. p. 467. It was issued on the 7th or 8th of October (see Stapleton's Confession: _Rolls House MS._ A 2, 28), the days on which, according to Aske's own confession, he seems to have been in the West Riding.

[123] The oath varied a little in form. In Yorks.h.i.+re the usual form was, "Ye shall swear to be true to G.o.d, the king, and the commonwealth."--Aske's Narrative: _Rolls House MS._ The tendency of the English to bind themselves with oaths, explains and partly justifies the various oaths required by the government.

[124] Deposition of William Stapleton: _Rolls House MS._

[125] Henry VIII. to Lord Darcy, October 8th: _Rolls House MS._ first series, 282.

[126] Letters to and from Lord Darcy: _Rolls House MS._ first series, 282.

[127] Henry had written him a second letter on the 9th of October, in which, knowing nothing as yet of the rising in Yorks.h.i.+re, he had expressed merely a continued confidence in Darcy's discretion.

[128] Stapleton's Confession: _Rolls House MS._ A 2, 28.

[129] Examination of Sir Thomas Percy: _Rolls House MS._ Demeanour of Sir Thomas and Sir Ingram Percy: _MS._ ibid. first series, 896.