to power Henry's ec while he maintained that there should be no new ecclesiastical legislation during the minority of Edward, he had openly declared in a memorable sermon1 against the papal and in favor comes back of the royal supremacy. Inspired by such principles Gardiner resolved to now came back to power, resolved to reëstablish Henry's restore ecclesiastical system in the identical form in which he had left clesiastical it. After the restoration of the bishops 2 who had been deposed and imprisoned in the preceding reign, and the execution of justice upon three of the ringleaders of the conspiracy Mary's first against the queen,3 Mary's first parliament, which met on the parliament legislated 5th of October, 1553, addressed itself under Gardiner's guidonly to that ance to the task of wiping out only so much of Edward's system; extent; treasons act of 25 restored; queen's settled and her mother's divorce ecclesiastical legislation as would make possible the restoration of the legal conditions as they existed in the last year of Henry VIII. The session opened with the ancient form of the mass, so long omitted, and the first act of the reign reëstablished the law of treason as defined by 25 Edw. III., by Edw. III. reenacting the repealing section of the act of Edward VI., with the addition of words extending it to misprision of treason.* The next act, in order to settle the question of the queen's legitimacy legitimacy, after declaring the validity of the marriage of her mother with Henry, annulled the sentence of divorce pronounced by Cranmer, as well as all acts of parliament which questioned her legitimacy. Then followed the act 6 repealing nine statutes passed in Edward's reign, relating to creed and Edward's ritual, the marriage of priests, and the election of bishops, reign, as to which may be enumerated as follows: the two Acts of Uniritual, formity, and that authorizing the Ordinal (2 Edw. VI. 1; 5 repealed; Edw. VI. 1; 3 Edw. VI. 12), the act authorizing the communion in both kinds (1 Edw. VI. 1), the act authorizing the appointment of bishops without election (1 Edw. VI. 2), the act for the limitation of holy days (5 Edw. VI. 3), the act abolishing the old service-books (2 Edw. VI. 10), and the two acts permitting priests to marry (2 Edw. VI. 21; 5 Edw. VI. annulled: nine statutes of creed and 1 Foxe, vol. vi. pp. 87-93, ed. 1838. 8 Northumberland, Gates, and Pal- 4 I Mary, c. I. 5 I Mary, sess. 2, c. I. Nothing was said in the act as to the papal dispensation, an omission of which Pole afterwards bitterly complained. See Strype's Cranmer, vol. iii. pp. 477, 479. Eccl. Hist., Soc. ed. 6 I Mary, sess. 2, c. 2. vine service the end of tablished 12). By the express terms of the repealing act "all such form of didivine service and administration of the sacraments as were in use at most commonly used in this realm of England in the last year Henry's of the reign of our late sovereign lord, King Henry VIII., shall reign reesbe, from and after the 20th day of December, 1553, used by law; throughout the whole realm of England, and all other the Queen's Majesty's dominions." And the same rule was repeated in the next act, which provided for the punishment of all who should molest priests, "celebrating the mass or other such divine service, sacraments, or sacramentals, as was most commonly frequented and used in the last year of the reign of the late sovereign lord, King Henry the Eighth." While thus conserving and restoring Henry's work, parliament was careful not to repeal the Act of Supremacy, and Mary accordingly Act of retained the title of "Supreme Head" down to April 2, 1554,2 2 Supremacy 1554, not a date subsequent to the arrangement of her marriage with repealed, Philip, an event which marks the beginning of a new policy maining the that culminated in the wiping out of the whole scheme of Head legislation through which the supremacy of the pope had been repudiated. Mary re "Supreme down to April, 1554. solved from lish the supremacy; strengthen There can be no doubt that Mary was resolved from the Mary reoutset to do her utmost to restore the realm to full communion the outset with the Roman See, and that she only acquiesced for the to reestabmoment in the moderate policy of Gardiner until she could Roman sufficiently strengthen her hands by a marriage alliance for the final enterprise. Motives both religious and political sug- seeks to gested that she should seek a husband from her mother's kin, her hands and the emperor was more than willing to offer to her the by a marhand of Philip 3 in extension of the ambitious policy of the Philip; house of Austria. Cardinal Pole, the queen's second cousin Cardinal once removed, who had been commissioned as legate the mo- cates the ment that Edward's death was known at Rome, although he alliance; was prevented by his attainder from entering the kingdom, 11 Mary, sess. 2, C. 3. 2 The first parliament was summoned in the name of "Mary... Defender of the faith and of the church of England, and also of Ireland, in earth Supreme Head;" a title retained in the first nineteen acts of the reign. On April 2, 1554, the title was changed by an omission of the last clause. 8 Renard's MSS. iii. fol. 49. 4 By Julius III., who at the same time sent from Brussels a secret agent, Commendone, through whom Mary communicated to the pope and Pole her desire to reunite her kingdom to the Roman See. Pallavicino, ii. 397; Quirini's Collection of Pole's Letters, vol. iv. p. III. riage with Pole advo marriage treaty executed in January, 15543 national opposition to the the com mons petiagainst it; tioned 1 soon journeyed as far as Flanders in order the more promptly to act as the queen's adviser. In spite of opposition to the Spanish alliance, which manifested itself in no uncertain terms at the council board, the queen and the emperor hastened it on, and early in January, 1554, the marriage articles that Charles had proposed in December ripened into a marriage treaty, which, after the insertion of all possible safeguards against foreign influence, was finally approved. Against such a marriage the nation had been resolved from the outset. The marriage; dread of such an event had given strength to Northumberland's conspiracy, and in Mary's first parliament the commons, as an assertion of their growing importance, presented a petition to the queen in which, after suggesting the dangers that would result from a union with a foreign prince, they earnestly advised her to marry one of her own subjects. The queen's passionate reply, in keeping with her Tudor blood, so alarmed the protestant party, who clearly foresaw that a Spanish alliance would not only overthrow their plan of religious reform, but also expose them to active persecution, that they broke into open revolt under the lead of Wyatt the moment that the completion of the marriage treaty was publicly announced. The outbreak, although premature, assumed such a dangerous form that the queen was for a time in great peril, and only her own queenly courage at the critical moment 5 saved her crown the queen's and her life. But her triumph was complete. By the 7th of triumph; February the insurrection had failed, and the prisons were crowded with the fugitive insurgents, who, together with the surviving leaders of Northumberland's conspiracy, now waited the queen's vengeance, which was sharp and summary. Lady Jane Grey, Jane Grey, her husband, father, and uncle, were sent to Wyatt, and others sent the block. Wyatt and his chief adherents soon followed; block, and while Elizabeth, whose complicity was suspected and who was sent to the Tower, was saved only by the interposition of the lords, who demanded that the slaughter should cease. the revolt under Wyatt ; Lady to the Elizabeth to the Tower; 1 Noailles, vol. i. p. 214. For pp. 52, 66; Foxe, vol. iii. p. 25; Holin 2 Marriage treaty between Mary and shed, 1096. Philip. Fadera, vol. xi. Burnet, vol. i. p. 479. 4 Renard's account of Mary's speech has been translated by Froude, vol. v. p. 297. 5 As to Mary's speech at the Guildhall, February 1, see Noailles, vol. iii. 6 As to her arrest, see MS. Mary, Domestic, vol. iii., State Paper Office; Renard to Charles V., February 17, Rolls House MSS. 7 Renard to Charles V., March 22, Rolls House MSS. party the moment the protestant party, whose leaders fled over sea, protestant was crushed, and Mary was left free to throw off the mask of crushed; moderation, and to enter upon the reactionary policy upon Mary inwhich she had resolved from the beginning. Faithful to her augurates a policy of promise made at the Guildhall in the midst of the rising, that reaction; she would not marry without the consent of parliament, the houses were called together on the 2d of April, when the marriage articles, as proposed by the emperor and as modified by the queen's advisers, were submitted for approval. The gross means of persuasion 1 which were employed having secured to a certain extent a compliant house of commons, the marriage a marriage bill passed bill was passed as soon as the parliamentary forms could be by parlia complied with. Then followed an act made necessary by the ment; fact that Mary was the first queen regnant who had ever made good her title to the crown of England. Some of the protestant preachers had claimed that the rule of a woman was not only prohibited by the word of God, but that the laws of the land, made alone for kings, failed to recognize the prerogatives of queens. To remove all constitutional difficulties upon that also an act to legalize score, an act was passed providing that "the royal power and Mary's dignities vested in a queen the same as in a king," and that position as all statutes applied equally to the sovereign whether male or queen female. After the failure to secure the passage of four bills presented by the chancellor to regulate the succession, to restore the Six Articles, to reënact the statute De hæretico comburendo, and to restore the jurisdiction of the bishops,5 parliament was dissolved on the 5th of May, and before the end of July the fateful union between Philip and Mary was celebrated ried in at Winchester. 4 the first regnant; Philip and Mary mar July, 1554 ciliation 3. Philip, while sacrificing himself to a political marriage, The reconwas no more intent upon restoring England to the Roman with Rome communion than upon binding the realm to his own house as - Philip and Pole: an effective ally upon whom he could rely for aid in his struggles with France. Statesman as he was, he clearly foresaw that the first enterprise could not be attempted with any hope of success unless he could win from the pope such concessions 1 Burnet, vol. i. pp. 479, 491. 2 The marriage bill passed by the 12th of April. I Mary, c. ii. As to Matilda's attempt to secure that position, see vol. i. p. 275. 4 1 Mary, sess. 3, c. I. 5 The last two bills passed the commons, but were lost in the upper house. Philip's as would assure the holders of the vast estates which had been attempts to torn from the church during the two preceding reigns that, in conciliate by assur ances to the holders of church Pole au thorized to compound, and dis pense," as power to alienate real pro perty finally granted; the nation the event of a restoration of the papal power, they would not be disturbed in their possessions. With the view of assuring the nation upon that vital point, Pole, in his first legatine comproperty; mission, was authorized to "treat, compound, and dispense' with the holders of church property as to the rents and profits "treat, which they had received.1 But as that concession was deemed inadequate, the pope was assured that however offensive it to rents and might be to his dignity to make a bargain, and to set aside the profits; canons of the church which positively forbade the alienation of ecclesiastical possessions, it was absolutely impossible to win English submission unless he was willing to extend the dispensing power to real as well as personal property. Accordingly, in a second brief,2 dated June 28, 1554, the legate was authorized "to give, aliene, and transfer " to their possessors all real and personal property which had been taken from the church since the schism. Having thus prepared the legate to contract in behalf of the pope, it next became necessary for Philip, who certainly exercised a powerful political influence from the time of his arrival, to prepare a parliament to contract in behalf of the English nation. There was certainly interference with the elections to the lower house of the parliament which met on the 12th of November, by means of parliament; circulars accompanying the writs, in which the crown, after declaring that no "alteration was intended of any man's possessions," directed the sheriffs, mayors, and others to admonish the voters to choose from among themselves "such as, being eligible by order of the laws, were of a wise, grave, and catholic sort, such as indeed meant the true honor of God and the prosperity of the commonwealth."4 Such were the precautions taken to assure the acquiescence of parliament in the reëstablishment of the papal supremacy which had now been abolished for thirty years, a period during which it is said that forty thousand families had profited from the church's possessions. But the assurance that no restitution would be de means employed by Philip to compliant secure a papal su premacy re established, after an interval of thirty years; 1 The first paper, dated March 8, 1554, and printed in Burnet's Collectanea, is explained in the text, vol. ii. p. 780. 2 Printed in Burnet's Collectanea. 8 This clause was devised by Gardiner in order to satisfy present possessors. Pallavicino, vol. ii. p. 411. The royal circular is printed in Burnet's Collectanea. |