■644 ENGL 
Northampton was fent againd him, but met with a re- 
-pulfe ; the earl of Warwick followed, and, coming to a 
general engagement, put them entirely to the rout. Two 
thoufand of them fell in the fight; Ket was hanged at 
Norwich cadle; nine of his followers on the boughs of 
the Oak of Reformation; and the infurreftion, which 
was the lad in favour of popery, was thus entirely 
fuppreffed. 
Though the fupprefiion of thefe diforders appeared to 
be favourable to the intereds of the protedbor, yet the 
'authority which the earl of Warwick gained in quelling 
them, terminated in Somerfet’s ruin. Of all the miniders 
at that time in the council, Dudley earl of Warwick was 
the mod artful, ambitious, and unprincipled. Refolved 
at any rate to poffefs the principal place under the king, 
he cared not by what means he acquired it. However, 
unwilling to throw' off the mafk, he covered the mod 
exorbitant views under the faired appearances. Having 
affociated himfelf with the earl of Southampton, he formed 
a drong party in the council, who were determined to free 
themfelves from the controul the protestor had fo long 
affumed over them. That nobleman was, in faft, grown 
obnoxious to the prevailing party in the kingdom. He 
was envied by the nobles for his power; he was hated by 
the catholic party for his regard to the reformation; and 
he was condemned by many for his feverity to his bro¬ 
ther: befides, the great edate he had raifed at the ex¬ 
pence of the church and the crown, rendered him ob¬ 
noxious to all. The palace which he was then building 
in the Strand, ferved alfo, by its magnificence, and dill 
more by the unjud methods that were taken to raife it, 
to expofe him to the cenfures of the public. The parifh 
church of St. Mary, with three bifhops’ houfes, were 
pulled down to furnifh fufficient fpace and materials for 
the drufture. 
Thefe imprudences were foon enlarged upon by So¬ 
merfet’s enemies. They reprefented him as a parricide, 
a facrilegious tyrant, and an ufurper upon the privileges 
of the council, and the rights of the king. In confequence 
of this, lord St. John, prefident of the council, the earls 
of Warwick, Southampton, and Arundel, with five others, 
met at Ely-houfe, Oftober 6, 1549 ; and affuming to them- 
feives the whole power of the government, began to aft 
independent of the proteftor, whom they pretended to 
conlider as the author of every public grievance. They 
wrote letters to the nobility of England, informing them 
of the prefent meafures, and requiring their aflidance. 
They fent for the mayor and aldermen of London, and 
enjoined them to concur in their authority, which they 
reprefented as the only means of faving the nation. 
Somerfet no fooner heard of thefe tranfaftions, than he 
fent the king to Windfor, and armed the inhabitants of 
Hampton and Windfor alfo for his fecurity. But finding 
that no man of rank, except Cranmer and lord Paget, 
adhered jp his caufe, and that the people did not rife at 
his fummons ; perceiving that he was in a manner deferted 
by all, and that refidance was fruitlefs, he Refolved to 
throw himfelf on the mercy of his enemies. This gave 
frelh confidence to the party of Warwick ; they allured 
the king, with the humbled profedions of obedience, that 
their only aim was to put the council on the fame foot¬ 
ing on which it had been ordained by the will of his 
father, and to refcue his authority from the hands of a 
man who had adumed all power to himfelf. The king, 
who never much regarded Somerfet, gave their addrefs a 
favourable reception ; and the proteftor was fent to the 
Tower, with fome of his friends and partizans, among 
whom was Cecil, afterwards earl of Salifbury. Mean 
while, the council deputed fix noblemen to aft as gover¬ 
nors to the king, two at a time, officiating alternately. It 
was then, for the fird time, that the earl of Warwick’s 
ambition began to appear in full view : he fet himfelf 
forward as the principal promoter of the proteftor’s ruin ; 
and his colleagues,without the lead oppofition, permitted 
him to alfume the reins of government. 
AND. 
It was now expefted that Somerfet’s fate was decided. 
A bill of attainder was preferred againd him in the houfe 
of lords; but he contrived, for this time, to elude the 
rigour of their fentence, by confeffing the charge before 
the members of the council. This confeffion, which he 
figned with his own hand, was alleged and read againd 
him at the bar of the houfe, who then fent a deputation 
to him, to know whether the confeffion was voluntary or 
extorted. Somerfet thanked them for their candour; 
owned that it was his voluntary aft, but ftrenuoudy infid- 
ed, that he had never harboured a finider thought againd 
the king or the commonwealth. In confequence of this 
drong feature of his innocence, he was fet at liberty, and 
re-admitted into the council. 
The catholics had been extremely elevated at the pro¬ 
teftor’s fall ; and they began to entertain hopes of a re¬ 
volution in their favour. But they were deceived in their 
opinion of Warwick, who now took the lead, as ambition 
was the only principle in his bread ; and to that he was 
refolved to facrifice all others. He foon gave indances 
of his feverity in religious points, by infljfting on bifhop 
Gardiner the penalties prefcribed againd difobedience. 
Many of the prelates were dill addifted to their ancient 
communion. A refolution was therefore taken to deprive 
them of their fees ; and it was thought proper to begin 
with him, in order to drike a terror into the red. He had 
already been tw-o years in prifon, when the council fent 
him feveral articles to fubfcribe, among which was one, 
acknowledging the judice of the orderfor his confinement. 
He was likewife to acknowledge the king’s fupremacy ; 
and that the Common Prayer Book was a preferable and 
more godly form than the Mifl’al. Gardiner was willing 
to put his hand to all the articles, except that by which 
he accufed himfelf, which he refufed to do, judly per¬ 
ceiving that their aim was either to ruin or di(honour 
him. For this refufal he was deprived of his bilhopric, 
committed to clofer cudody, his books and papers feized, 
all company denied him, and not even permitted the ufe 
of pen and ink. But the reformers did not dop here : 
Warwick and his alfociates deprived, in the fame man¬ 
ner, Day biffiop of Chicheder, Heathe of Worceder, and 
Voify of Exeter. The bifhops of LandafF, Salifbury, and 
Coventry, came off fomething better, by facrificing the 
mod considerable part of their ecclefiadical revenues. 
The libraries of Wedminder and Oxford were now or¬ 
dered to be ranfacked, and purged of the Romiffi miffals, 
legends, and other fuperditious volumes; in which fearch 
great devadation was made even in ufeful literature. 
Many volumes, clafped in filver, were dedroyed f^r the 
fake of their rich bindings ; many valuable works in 
geometry, adronomy, and the mathematics, being fup- 
pofed by the ignorant to be conjuring books, met with 
no mercy. The venerable univerfity, unable to dop 
thefe ravages, filently looked on, and trembled for its 
own fafety. 
Warwick had hopes of gaining popularity with the 
public by thefe humiliations of the church ; and, per¬ 
ceiving that the king was extremely attached to the re¬ 
formation, he perceived that he could not make his court 
to the young monarch better than by a feeming zeal in 
the caufe. But he was dill deadfaflly bent on enlarging 
his own power; and, as the earl of Northumberland had 
died without iffue or heirs, Warwick procured for him¬ 
felf a grant of his ample poffeffions, and'obtained the title 
alfo of duke of Northumberland. The duke of Somer¬ 
fet was now the only perfon who fiood in his way ; for, 
though fallen, yet he dill preferved a (hare of popula¬ 
rity, which rendered him formidable to this afpirer. He 
was, therefore, by Northumberland’s command, arrefted, 
with many others, accufed of being his partizans; and 
he was, with his wife the duchefs, thrown into prifon. 
He was now accufed of having formed a defign to raife 
an infurreftion in the north ; of attacking the train-bands 
on a muder-day ; of plotting to fecure the Tower, and 
to excite a rebellion in London. Thefe charges he molt 
folemnly 
