1559. AN.REG. 1, London (which for the most part gives example to the rest of the kingdom) the visitors were Sir Richard Sackvile, (father to Thomas Earl of Dorset) Mr Robert Horn, after Bishop of Winchester, Dr Huick, a civilian, and one Salvage, possibly a common lawyer; who, calling before them divers persons of every parish, gave them an oath to inquire and present upon such articles and injunctions as were given unto them'. In pursuance whereof both the commissioners and the people shewed so much forwardness, that on St Bartholomew's day and the morrow after they burned in St Paul's church-yard, Cheapside, and other places of the city, all the roods and other images which had been taken out of the Churches. And as it is many times supposed that a thing is never well done if not over done, so happened it in this case also; zeal against superstition had prevailed so far with some ignorant men, that in some places the copes, vestments, altar-cloths, books, banners, sepulchres, and rood-lofts, were burned altogether2. Proposals of Queen. 28. All matters of the Church being thus disposed of, it will made to the be time to cast our eyes on the concernments of the civil state which occurred this year; in which I find nothing more considerable than the overtures of some marriages which had been made unto the Queen. Philip of Spain had made an offer of himself by the Count of Feria, his Ambassador; but the Queen had heard so much of the disturbances which befel King Henry by marrying with his brother's wife, that she had no desire to run into the like perplexities by marrying with her sister's husband3; and how he was discouraged from proceeding in it, hath been shewed already. Towards the end of the Parliament, the Lords and Commons made an humble address unto her, in which they most earnestly besought her, that, for securing the peace of the kingdom and the contentation of all her good and loving subjects, she would think of marrying; not pointing her particularly unto any one man, but leaving her to please herself in the choice of the person. To which she answered, "That she thanked them for their good affections, and took their application to her to be well intended, the rather, because it contained no limitation of place or person; which 1 Stow, 640. Comp. Strype, Ann. i. 167–171. 2 Stow, 640; Hayw. 28. 3 Camden, 370. *.P. 268. 1559. had they done, she must have disliked it very much, and AN.REG. 1, thought it to have been a great presumption." But for the matter of their suit, she lets them know, "That she had long since made choice of that state of life in which now she lived, and hoped that God would give her strength and constancy to go through with it; that if she had been minded to have changed that course, she neither wanted many invitations to it in the reign of her brother, nor many strong impulsions in the time of her sister. That as she had hitherto remained, so she intended to continue by the grace of God, though her words, compared with her youth, might be thought by some to be far different from her meaning1." And so having thanked them over again, she licensed them to depart to their several businesses. And it appeared soon after that she was in earnest, by her rejecting a motion made by Gustavus King of Sweden for the Prince Ericus; for the soliciting whereof his second son John, Duke of Finland (who succeeded his brother in that kingdom2) is sent Embassador into England about the end of September. Received at Harwich in Essex by the Earl of Oxford and the Lord Robert Dudley, with a goodly train of gentlemen and yeomen, he was by them conducted honourably towards London, where he was met by the Lords and gentlemen of the 19 Court, attended through the city on the 5th of October to the 91 Bishop of Winchester's house in Southwark. There he re mained with his train, consisting of about fifty persons, till the Easter following; magnificently feasted by the Queen, but otherwise no farther gratified in the business which he came about than all the rest who both before and after tried their fortunes in it3. Chateau 29. The next great business of this year was a renewing Treaty of of the peace with the Crown of France, agreed on at the Cambresis. treaty near the city of Cambray; in which all differences were concluded also between France and Spain. All other articles being accorded, the restitution of Calais to the Queen of Eng 1 Stow, 636. Camd. 375-6. Hayw. 31-3. 2 Gustavus Vasa died Sept. 29, 1560, and was succeeded by Eric, the son of his first marriage. It was by deposing Eric (who had given proofs of an unsound mind), that his half-brother John became King in 1657. Gfrörer's Gustav Adolf, Stuttg. 1845, pp. 21—3. 3 Stow, 640. Hayw. 37. 1559. Death of AN. REG.1, land seemed the only obstacle by which the general peace of Christendom was at the point to have been hindered. But the Queen, either preferring the public good before private interest, or fearing to be left alone if she should stand too obstinately upon that particular, came at the last to this agreement, viz. That Calais should remain for the term of eight years then next following in the hands of the French; that at the end of the said term it should be delivered unto the English, or otherwise the French King should pay unto the Queen the sum of 500,000 crowns. According unto which agreement peace was proclaimed in London on the 7th of April, between the Queen's Majesty on the one part, and the French King on the other; as also between her and the King Daulphin, with his wife the Queen of Scots, and all the subjects and dominions of the said four Princes; the proclamation published by Garter and Norroy Kings at Arms, accompanied by three other heralds and five trumpeters, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen in their scarlet gowns being present on horseback1. But long the French King lived not to enjoy the benefit of this general peace ;—unfortunately wounded in Paris at a tilt or tournament by Count Montgomery; of which wound he shortly after died, on the 10th of July2, leaving behind him four sons, Francis, Charles, Henry, and another Francis, of which the three first, according to their seniority, enjoyed that kingdom. And though she had just cause to be offended with the young King Francis, for causing the Queen of Scots, his wife, to take upon herself the title and arms of England, yet she resolved to bestow a royal obsequy on the King deceased; which was performed in St Paul's Church on the 8th and 9th of September, in most solemn manner, with a rich hearse made like an imperial crown, sustained with eight pillars, and covered with black velvet, with a vallance fringed with gold, and richly hanged with scutcheons, pennons, and banners of the French King's arms. The principal mourner for the first day was the Lord Treasurer Paulet, Marquess of Winchester, assisted with ten other Lords mourners, with all the heralds in black, and their coat-armours uppermost. The divine offices performed by Doctor Matthew Parker, Lord Elect of Canterbury, Doctor William Barlow, Stow, 639. Camd. 374. A translation of the treaty is in Speed, 859. 639. 2 Stow, 1559. Lord Elect of Chichester, and Doctor John Scory, Lord Elect AN. REG.1, of Hereford, all sitting in the throne of the Bishop of London, no otherwise at that time than in hoods and surplices: by whom the Dirige was executed at that time in the English tongue; the funeral sermon preached the next morning by the Lord of Hereford, and a Communion celebrated by the Bishops, then attired in copes upon their surplices. At which time six of the chief mourners received the Sacrament, and so departed with the rest to the Bishop's Palace, where a very liberal entertainment was provided for them1. By which magnificency and the like this prudent Queen not only kept her own reputation at the highest amongst foreign Princes, but caused the greater estimation to be had by the Catholic party of the religion here established. 1 Stow, 640. Holinsh. iv. 185-6. Strype, Ann. i. 127—9. [HEYLYN, II.] X AN. REG.2, 1559. ANNO REGNI ELIZ. 2, ANNO DOM. 1559, 1560. Nomination 1. of Parker as Archbishop of Canter bury. W E must begin this year with the consecration of such 12 new Bishops as were elected to succeed in the place 2 of those which had been deprived; the first of which was that of the Most Reverend Doctor Matthew Parker, elected to the See of Canterbury on the first of August1, but not consecrated till the 17th of December following. That dignity had first been offered, as is said by some, to Doctor Nicholas Wotton, Dean of Canterbury and York, who, grown in years, and still a well-willer to the Pope, desired to be excused from undertaking of a charge so weighty. And some say it was offered unto Whitehead also, who had been Chaplain to Anne Bollen, the Queen's mother; but he returned the like refusal, though on other grounds,—as more inclined (by reason of his long abode in Calvin's Churches) to the presbyterian3 than the Episcopal form of government: and it was happy,—for the Church might have been betrayed by his disaffection,—that he did refuse it; the chair being better filled by Parker', another of Queen Anne Bollen's Chaplains, but better principled, and of a far more solid judgment in affairs of moment. The Congé d'eslire which opened him the way to this eminent dignity bears date on the 18th day of July, within few days after the deprivation of the former Bishops,-to satisfy the world in the Queen's intention of preserving the episcopal government. And therefore why the Consecration was deferred so long may be made a question. Some think it was that she might satisfy herself by putting the Church into a posture by her visitation before she passed it over to the care of the Bishops; others conceive that she was so enamoured with the power and title of Supreme Governess that she could not deny herself that contentment in the exercise of it which the present 2 Holinsh. iv. 601. 1 Godwin de Præsul. 152. • Edd. "presbyterians." For Parker's reluctance to accept the primacy, see Strype's Parker, b. i c. 8. |