ENGLAND. 



651 



History- advice of Cranmer, to have the legality of his marriage 

 V "~"Y"^^ discussed by all the universities of Europe ; and having 

 at length procured their suffrages, as well as the opinions 

 of the Rabbis in his favour, he determined to commence 

 an open resistance to the pope's authority. By the re- 

 vival of an old statute, which had been employed to ruin 

 Wolsey, and which rendered his exercise of the power 

 of legate unlawful, though it had been done with his own 

 permission, he indicted all those ecclesiastics who had 

 submitted to the legantine court, for having violated the 

 law ; reduced them to compound for their offence by a 

 fine of L.I 18,000 ; and, at the same time, extorted from 

 them a confession, that " the king was the protector and 

 the supreme head of the church of England." By the 

 strict execution of the old statute above mentioned, much 

 of the profits, and still more of the power, of the church 

 of Rome was cut off; and by several new acts, the usur- 

 pations of the pontiff were farther abolished. 



Henry, now determined in his own mind, and prepar- 

 ed for all consequences, privately married Anne Boleyne ; 

 and upon her becoming pregnant, publicly announced 

 her as his wife, by carrying her in a magnificent proces- 

 sion through the streets of London. His marriage with 

 Catherine having been pronounced invalid by a court 

 held under Archbishop Granmer, the new queen was 

 publicly crowned with suitable splendour, and was soon 

 afterwards delivered of a daughter, who received the 

 name of Elizabeth. When intelligence of these transac- 

 tions was conveyed to Rome, the pope immediately is- 

 sued a sentence, declaring the nullity of Cranmcr's de- 

 cision, and requiring Henry, upon pain of excommunica- 

 tion, to restore Catherine to her place as his only law- 

 ful wife. The king, upon receiving information of this 

 decree against him, no longer delayed to execute his long 

 meditated scheme of renouncing the Papal jurisdiction. 

 A parliament was assembled, which ratified the king's 

 marriage with Anne Boleyne, and appointed the crown to 

 descend to the issue of this connection; declared the 

 king to be the only supreme head on earth of the church 

 of England, and granted him a right to all annates and 

 tythes of benefices, which had hitherto been paid to the 

 see of Rome. The clergy, assembled in convocation, 

 passed a vote, that, by the law of God, the Roman pon- 

 tiff had no more jurisdiction in England than any other 

 foreign bishop ; and the bishops even took out new com- 

 missions from the crown, acknowledging all their spiritual 

 and episcopal authority to be derived ultimately from the 

 civil magistrate. 



While, however, the king of England threw off the 

 political yoke of the church of Rome, he adhered, with 

 blind obstinacy, to its most pernicious errors ; and his 

 subjects were thus brought into a dilemma, which expo- 

 sed all parties to persecution at his pleasure. It was a 

 capital crime to acknowledge the pope's supremacy ; and, 

 on the other hand, it was equally punishable to profess 

 the reformed principles. The Queen, Cromwell, secre- 

 tary of state, and Archbishop Cranmer, secretly favoured 

 the Protestant tenets ; but the Duke of Norfolk, Gardiner 

 bishop of Winchester, and Sir Thomas More, who suc- 

 ceeded Wolsey as chancellor, were zealous supporters of 

 the old religion. The latter, with all his natural gentle- 

 ness and enlarged mind, acted the part of a furious in- 

 quisitor in the prosecution of heresy ; and, under his ad- 

 ministration, many were put to death for harbouring the 

 feformed teachers, neglecting the fasts of the church, or 

 declaiming against the vices of the Popish ecclesiastics. 



By these severe executions, however, the people were ^ lik-tory^ 

 rendered only the more favourable to the new doctrines, s " "V""*' 

 and inspired with greater horror of the old ; while on 

 the other hand, many eminent individuals, who were 

 friendly to the Romish church, and even instrumental in 

 those cruelties, suffered in their turn whenever they ven- 

 tured to oppose the king's measures. Fisher, bishop of Execution 

 Rochester, and Sir Thomas More, having refused to take 

 the oath which acknowledged Henry's supremacy as head si ' r s 

 of the church, and expressed an approbation of his di- More. 

 vorce, were thrown into prison, and treated with unusual 

 severity. Archbishop Cranmer, after having failed in his 

 endeavours to persuade them to comply, used all his in- 

 fluence to alleviate their sufferings, and to save them 

 from the fate with which they were threatened. But the 

 king, knowing their attachment to the see of Rome, and 

 the high regard which was paid by all its adherents to 

 their opinion and example, was determined to awe the 

 Papal party by their destruction. They were tried, con- 

 demned, and beheaded. (See MORE.) When their ex- 

 ecution was reported at Rome, the utmost indignation 

 was expressed against Henry ; and he was denounced by 

 the Italian orators, as worse than Caligula, Nero, Domi- 

 tian, and all the most unrelenting enemies of the church. 

 Paul III. who had succeeded to the pontificate, summon- 

 ed the king of England, with all his adherents, to ap- 

 pear at Rome, within ninety days, to answer for his 

 crimes ; and should they fail to obey, pronounced the 

 sentence of excommunication, depriving Henry of his 

 crown, laying the kingdom under an interdict, declaring 

 the issue ef his second marriage illegitimate, dissolving 

 all his leagues with any Catholic prince, bestowing his 

 dominions upon any invader, absolving his subjects from 

 their oath of allegiance, and declaring it lawful for any 

 one to seize, enslave, and plunder them, as long as they 

 retained their fidelity to his person. But these censures, 

 though passed, were not published, till all agreement 

 with the English monarch should become hopeless, and 

 till the emperor should be in a condition to carry the 

 sentence into execution. Henry, ore his part, knowing 

 that he might expect every injury which it might be in 

 the power of Charles to inflict, exerted all his policy to 

 incapacitate his adversary from giving effect to his resent- 

 ment, renewed his league with Francis, and even made 

 advances to the leaders of the Protestant league in Ger- 

 many. In the mean time, the decease of Queen Catherine, 

 by removing the foundation of the emperor's principal 

 quarrel with Henry, induced the former to make attempts 

 rather to conciliate his friendship, and to detach him 

 from the interests of France. Thus was the king left at 

 full liberty to exercise the decisive authority which he 

 had acquired over his subjects, and to pursue his schemes 

 for the utter destruction of papal authority in his domi- 

 nions. 



The monks, in their rage against Henry, employed all Suppression 

 their influence to inflame the people against his govern- nJ te ^" 

 ment ; and having engaged in various treasonable prac- 1535. 

 tice.s, the king resolved to root them out of his kingdom. 

 Commissioners were appointed to inspect the monasteries; 

 and the greatest disorders having been detected, the par- 

 liament was directed to suppress all the smaller religious 

 houses, and to confiscate their goods and revenues for 

 the use of the crown. The reformers gained a farther 

 triumph, by a vote passed in convocation, and understood 

 to be directed by the king, for publishing a new transla- 

 tion of the sacred scriptures ; but their cause sustained. 



