History of England from the fall of Wolsey to the death of Elizabeth Volume III Part 39

"XVII. That it be enacted by act of parliament that all recognizances, statutes, penalties under forfeit, during the time of this commotion, may be pardoned and discharged, as well against the king as strangers.

"XVIII. That the privileges and rights of the Church be confirmed by act of parliament; and priests not to suffer by the sword unless they be degraded. A man to be saved by his book; sanctuary to save a man for all cases in extreme need; and the Church for forty days, and further, according to the laws as they were used in the beginning of this king's days.

"XIX. The liberties of the Church to have their old customs, in the county palatine of Durham, Beverley, Ripon, St. Peter's at York, and such other, by act of parliament.

"XX. To have the Statute of Uses repealed.

"XXI. That the statutes of treasons for words and such like, made since anno 21 of our sovereign lord that now is, be in like wise repealed.

"XXII. That the common laws may have place, as was used in the beginning of your Grace's reign; and that all injunctions may be clearly decreed, and not to be granted unless the matter be heard and determined in Chancery.

"XXIII. That no man, upon subpnas from Trent north, appear but at York, or by attorney, unless it be upon pain of allegiance, or for like matters concerning the king.

"XXIV. A remedy against escheators for finding of false offices, and extortionate feestaking, which be not holden of the king, and against the promoters thereof."

A careful perusal of these articles will show that they are the work of many hands, and of many spirits. Representatives of each of the heterogeneous elements of the insurrection contributed their grievances; wise and foolish, just and unjust demands were strung together in the haste of the moment.

For the original of this remarkable doc.u.ment, see Instructions to Sir Thomas Hilton, Miscellaneous Depositions on the Rebellion: _Rolls House MS._

[164] Aske's Narrative: _Rolls House MS._

[165] Lord Darcy to Somerset Herald: _Rolls House MS._

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

[167] Devices for the Quieting of the North: _Rolls House MS._ first series, 606.

[168] _State Papers_, Vol. I. pp. 507, 508.

[169] Bundle of una.s.sorted MSS. in the State Paper Office.

[170] _Rolls House MS._ second series, 278.

[171] _State Papers_, Vol. I. p. 476; and compare p. 500. The instructions varied according to circ.u.mstances. There were many forms of them, of which very few are printed in the _State Papers_. I extract from several, in order to give the general effect.

[172] The king's words are too curious to be epitomized. The paper from which I here quote is written by his secretary, evidently from dictation, and in great haste. After speaking of the way in which the vow of chast.i.ty had been treated by the monks, he goes on:--

"For the point of wilful poverty they have gathered together such possessions, and have so exempted themselves from all laws and good order with the same, that no prince could live in that quiet, in that surety, in that ease, yea, in that liberty, that they lived. The prince must carke and care for the defence of his subjects against foreign enemies, against force and oppression; he must expend his treasures for their safeguard; he must adventure his own blood, abiding all storms in the field, and the lives of his n.o.bles, to deliver his poor subjects from the bondage and thrall of their mortal enemies. The monks and canons meantime lie warm in their demesnes and cloysters. Whosoever wants, they shall be sure of meat and drink, warm clothing, money, and all other things of pleasure. They may not fight for their prince and country; but they have declared at this rebellion that they might fight against their prince and country. Is not this a great and wilful poverty, to be richer than a prince?--to have the same in such certainty as no prince hath that tendereth the weal of his subjects? Is not this a great obedience that may not obey their prince, and against G.o.d's commandment, against their duties of allegiance, whereto they be sworn upon the Holy Evangelists, will labour to destroy their prince and country, and devise all ways to shed Christian blood? The poor husbandman and artificer must labour all weathers for his living and the sustentation of his family. The monk and canon is sure of a good house to cover him, good meat and drink to feed him, and all other things meeter for a prince than for him that would be wilfully poor. If the good subject will ponder and weigh these things, he will neither be grieved that the King's Majesty have that for his defence and the maintenance of his estate, so that he shall not need to molest his subjects with taxes and impositions, which loiterers and idle fellows, under the cloke of holyness, have sc.r.a.ped together, nor that such dissimulers be punished after their demerits, if they will needs live like enemies to the commonwealth."--_Rolls House MS._ first series, 297.

[173] Sir Brian Hastings to Lord Shrewsbury: _Rolls House MS._ first series, 268.

[174] Sir Brian Hastings to Lord Shrewsbury: _Rolls House MS._ first series, 268.

[175] He was a bad, violent man. In earlier years he had carried off a ward in Chancery, one Anne Grysanis, while still a child, and attempted to marry her by force to one of his retainers.--Ibid. second series, 434.

[176] Sir Brian Hastings to Lord Shrewsbury: Ibid. first series, 626.

[177] Shrewsbury to the King: _MS. State Paper Office_; Letters to the King and Council, Vol. V.

[178] _MS. State Paper Office_, second series, Vol. x.x.xVI.

[179] Suffolk to the King: _MS. State Paper Office_; Letters to the King and Council, Vol. V.

[180] It is to be remembered that Darcy still _professed_ that he had been forced into the insurrection by Aske. This is an excuse for Norfolk's request, though it would have been no excuse for Darcy had he consented.

[181] Deposition of Percival Cresswell: _Rolls House MS._ A 2, 29.

[182] _MS. State Paper Office_, first series. Autograph letter of Lord Darcy to the Duke of Norfolk. It is unfortunately much injured.

[183] One of these is printed in the _State Papers_, Vol. I. p. 506. The editor of these Papers does not seem to have known that neither this nor any _written_ answer was actually sent. Amidst the confusion of the MSS.

of this reign, scattered between the State Paper Office, the Rolls House, and the British Museum, some smothered in dirt and mildew, others in so frail a state that they can be scarcely handled or deciphered, far greater errors would be pardonable. The thanks of all students of English history are due to Sir John Romilly for the exertions which he has made and is still making to preserve the remnants of these most curious doc.u.ments.

[184] Henry VIII. to the Earl of Rutland: _Rolls House MS._ first series, 454

[185] Aske's Narrative: _Rolls House MS._

[186] _Rolls House MS._ first series, 1805; and see _State Papers_, Vol.

I. p. 558.

[187] Deposition of John Selbury: _Rolls House MS._ A 2. 29.

[188] Sir Anthony Wingfield to the Duke of Norfolk: _Rolls House MS._ first series, 692.

[189] The Duke of Norfolk, Sir William Fitzwilliam, Sir John Russell, and Sir Anthony Brown.

[190] The Duke of Suffolk feared an even larger gathering: where heretofore they took one man, he warned Norfolk, they now take six or seven. _State Paper Office MS._ first series, Vol. III. Lord Darcy a.s.sured Somerset Herald that they had a reserve of eighty thousand men in Northumberland and Durham--which, however, the herald did not believe. _Rolls House MS._

[191] The King to the Duke of Norfolk: _Rolls House MS._ first series, 278.

[192] _MS. State Paper Office._

[193] The names of the thirty-four were,--Lords Darcy, Neville, Scrope, Conyers, Latimer, and Lumley; Sir Robert Constable, Sir John Danvers, Sir Robert Chaloner, Sir James Strangways, Sir Christopher Danby, Sir Thomas Hilton, Sir William Constable, Sir John Constable, Sir William Vaughan, Sir Ralph Ellerkar, Sir Christopher Heliyarde, Sir Robert Neville, Sir Oswald Wolstrop, Sir Edward Gower, Sir George Darcy, Sir William Fairfax, Sir Nicholas Fairfax, Sir William Mallore, Sir Ralph Bulmer, Sir Stephen Hamarton, Sir John Dauncy, Sir George Lawson, Sir Richard Tempest, Sir Thomas Evers, Sir Henry Garrowe, and Sir William Babthorpe.

[194] Examination of John Dakyn: _Rolls House MS._ first series, p. 402.

[195] They have been printed by Strype (_Memorials_, Vol. II. p. 266).

Strype however, knew nothing of the circ.u.mstances which gave them birth.

[196] Henry VIII. to the Duke of Norfolk: _State Papers_, Vol. I. p.

511. The council, who had wrung these concessions from the king, wrote by the same courier, advising him to yield as little as possible--"not to strain too far, but for his Grace's honour and for the better security of the commonwealth, to except from pardon, if by any means he might, a few evil persons, and especially Sir Robert Constable."--_Hardwicke State Papers_, Vol. I. p. 27.

[197] "You may of your honour promise them not only to obtain their pardons, but also that they shall find us as good and gracious lord unto them as ever we were before this matter was attempted; which promise we shall perform and accomplish without exception."--Henry VIII. to the Duke of Suffolk: _Rolls House MS._ first series, 476.

[198] Aske, in his Narrative, which is in the form of a letter to the king, speaks of "the articles now concluded at Doncaster, which were drawn, read, argued, and agreed among the lords and esquires" at Pomfret.--_Rolls House MS._

[199] Aske's Narrative: _Rolls House MS._ A 2, 28.

[200] Instructions to the Earl of Suss.e.x: Ibid. first series, 299.