CHAP. XXXV. and the King's marriage with the Queen, Catherine Par. and shocked, therefore, when he was told one morning by the King that he had resolved to marry the Lady Catherine Par, a widow of unimpeached private character; but, in religion, regarded as little better than a Lutheran. He was very much alarmed by apprehension of the influence she might Protestant acquire, and the advantage she might give to the cause of the Reformation, which, in spite of frequent executions for heresy, was daily gaining ground in England. He did not venture upon the idle task of combating the King's inclination; and he passively saw the ceremony of the marriage performed by Gardyner, Bishop of Winchester, in the Queen's Privy Closet at Hampton Court, although Cranmer, actuated by contrary feelings, to hasten and secure the match, had granted a special licence, dispensing with the publication of banns and all contrary ordinances. His plans new Queen. Wriothesley, nevertheless, actuated by misguided zeal, against the resolved, for the good of the Church, to take the earliest opportunity of making the new Queen share the fate of her predecessors; sanguine in the hope that she would be indiscreet, and that the King would be relentless. He is made Lord The declining health of Lord Audley showed that a vacancy in the office of Chancellor was at hand, and Wriothesley, without hesitation, agreed to accept it; for its duties were not considered at all incompatible with those of prime minister; and the patronage and emoluments peculiarly belonging to it, made it always an object of the highest ambition. Audley's resignation taking place on the 22d of April, 1544, we have seen that on the same day the Great Seal was delivered to Wriothesley, with the modest title of "Lord Keeper during the illness of the Chancellor." Having gratefully received it from the King at Whitehall, he carried it to his house in Cannon Row, and there, the following day, "he held a Seal." On Friday, the 30th of April, the first day of Easter term, while Audley was breathing his last, the Lord Keeper publicly took the oaths in the Court of Chancery *Rot. Cl. 36 H. 8. XXXV. in Westminster Hall. His abjuration of the Pope was CHAP. very ample, and must have cost him a severe pang, unless he had a dispensation for taking it. "I, Thomas Wriothesley, His abjuraKnyght, Lorde Wriothesley, Lorde Keeper of the Brode tion of the Pope. Seale, havynge now the vaile of darkness of the usurped power, auctoritie, and jurisdiccion of the See and Bishoppes of Rome clearly taken away from myne eyes, do utterly testifie and declare in my conscience, that neyther the See, nor the Bishop of Rome, nor any foraine potestate, hath nor ought to have any jurisdiccion, power, or auctoritie within this realme, neither by Godd's lawe, nor by any other juste lawe or meanes; and though by sufferance and abusions in tymes passed, they aforesaide have usurped and vendicated a fayned and unlawful power and jurisdiccion within this realme, whiche hath ben supported tyll fewe yeres passed, therefore, by cause it myght be denied, and thought thereby that I toke or take it for just and good, I therefore nowe do clerely and frankeley renounce, refuse, relinquishe, and forsake the pretended auctoritie, power, and jurisdiccion both of the See and Bishop of Rome, and of all other foraine powers; and that I shall never consent nor agre that the foresaid See or Bishop of Rome, or any of their successours, shall practise, exercise, or have any manner of auctoritie, jurisdiccion, or power within this realme, or any other the Kynge's realmes or domynions, nor any foraine potestate, of what estate, degree, or condiccion soever he be, but that I shall resiste the same at all tymes to the uttermost of my power, and that I shall accepte, repute, and take the Kynge's majestie, his heyres, and successors, when they or any of them shall enjoy his place, to be the only supreme Head in earth, under God, of the Churche of England and Ireland, and of all other his Hignesse's dominions; and in case any other hathe ben made by me to any person or persons in maintenance, defence, or favour of the See and Bishop of Rome, or his auctoritie, jurisdiccion, or power, I reporte the same as vague and adnihilate, and shall holly and trewely observe and kepe this othe. So helpe me God, all Sainctes, and the Holy Evangelists.' *Rot. Cl. 36 H. 8. CHAP. May 3. 1544. Lord The old Duke of Norfolk, who had so often officiated on such occasions, attended this installation, but we have no account of any orations delivered, and probably the ceremony was made as short and simple as possible, out of delicacy to the dying Audley. On the third day after his death the Lord Keeper brought the Great Seal to the King at Whitehall, and resigned it Chancellor. into his hands. His Majesty, sitting on his throne, having accepted it, re-delivered it to him, with the title of "Lord Chancellor," making a speech very complimentary both to the deceased and the living Chancellor.* His installation. His deficiency in law. A very incompetent Judge. There was then a grand procession from the Palace to Westminster Hall; and in the Court of Chancery the Duke of Norfolk, by the King's command, again administered the oaths to the new Chancellor, and installed him in his office. Although bred to the law, he had never been thoroughly imbued with its principles nor versed in its forms; and his scanty legal learning had been almost entirely forgotten by him since he had abandoned professional for political pursuits. He accordingly found himself very inadequate to the discharge of the judicial duties of his office, and the public complained loudly of his delays and mistakes. He continued to sit during Easter and Trinity terms, pelted by motions which he knew not how to dispose of, and puzzled by causes the bearings of which he could hardly be made to understand; -perplexed by the conflicting assertions of the opposite counsel as to the doctrine and practice of the Court; - his chief solicitude being to conceal his ignorance from the bar and the by-standers; -desirous to do what was right both for his own conscience and his credit,-but with constant apprehensions that his decisions were erroneous, and that he was * "Dms Rex in solio suo regali sedens et sigillum prdum in baga predicta inclusum manu sua tenens post verba ad prftum Thomam Wriothesley et alios ibidem prestes habita, sigillum illud prefto Thome Dno Wriothesley tanqm Dno Cancellario Anglie tradidit et redeliberavit ipsumque Thomam Dmm Wriothesley Cancellarium suum Anglie constituit." The entry then goes on to specify the names of the Master of the Rolls, and a large assemblage present, and to state that the Chancellor having opened the bag and taken out the seal, sealed a writ with it and restored it to the bag, carried it off with him, and describes the ceremony of his swearing in; but instead of again setting out the oath of supremacy, merely says, “I, Thomas Wriothesley, Knight, I.orde Wriothesley, Lorde Chancellor of England, havynge now the vaile of darknes, &c., ut supra." CHAP. XXXV. ridiculed in private, even by those who flattered him in his presence. At last the long vacation came to his relief, during which, in those times, the tranquillity of the Chancellor was His unhaplittle disturbed by motions for injunctions or summary appli- piness. cations of any sort. He tries to study Equity. He now applied himself to the study of the few cases in the recent Year Books as to where "a subpoena lies," and tried to gain information from the officers of the Court to qualify him for a more satisfactory performance of his part in "the marble chair; " but as Michaelmas term approached, his heart failed him, and he resolved not again to expose himself to the anxieties and indignities he had before suffered. Nevertheless, he by no means intended to resign the Great Seal, and, with the King's consent, on the 9th of October, 1544*, he issued a commission to Sir Robert Southwell, CommisMaster of the Rolls, and several others, to hear causes in the Court of Chancery during his absence. He afterwards took his seat in Court occasionally, as a matter of form; but on these Commissioners he, in reality, devolved all the judicial business of his office during the remainder of the reign of Henry VIII., and he devoted himself entirely to matters of state and religion. sion to assist him in hearing causes. bigotry. There was now profound peace with France and the Em- His reperor, and the public attention was absorbed by the struggle lentless between the favourers and opposers of the new doctrines. The Chancellor was at the head of the latter party, and showed the qualities of a Grand Inquisitor, rather than of an enlightened minister to a constitutional King. Henry, his pride and peevishness increasing as his health declined, was disposed to punish with fresh severity all who presumed to entertain a different speculative notion from himself respecting religion, particularly on any point embraced by the "Six Articles" framed against Lutheranism; and the Chancellor, instead of restraining and soothing, urged on and inflamed his persecuting spirit. In spite of all these efforts the reformed doctrines gained ground, and were even becoming fashionable at Court under the secret countenance of the Queen. The alarm was given Anne Ascue tor tured and burnt by XXXV. the Lord CHAP. by the indiscretion of Anne Ascue, one of her maids, a young lady of great beauty, of gentle manners, and warm imagination, who had had the temerity to declare in a large company, Chancellor. "that in her opinion, after the consecration of the elements in the sacrament of the Lord's supper, the substance of bread and wine still remains in them." This conversation being reported to the King and the Chancellor, she was summoned and examined before the Council. Being menaced by Bonner, who was beginning to show that disposition which proved so formidable in a succeeding reign, she recanted to a certain degree, but still under qualifications which were not satisfactory, and she was committed to prison on a charge of heresy. This severity only heightened her enthusiasm: she now saw the crown of martyrdom within her reach, and she resolved to court it by boldly asserting her religious principles. A letter which she wrote to the King, saying, "as to the Lord's Supper, she believed as much as Christ himself had taught or the Catholic church required, but that she could not assent to his Majesty's explication of the doctrine," was considered a fresh insult, and as it was suspected that she was countenanced by the leaders of the Lutheran party at Court, the Lord Chancellor went himself in person to interrogate her in the hope of obtaining some evidence against Cranmer, or against the Queen herself. Anne freely answered all the Chancellor's questions respecting her own faith, but she maintained an inviolable fidelity to her friends, and would give no information as to her instructors or participators in the heretical opinions she expressed. According to a custom then common, defended by high authority as necessary to religion and good government, and not entirely abolished in England for near a century afterwards, she was thereupon ordered to be put to the torture. This being applied with great barbarity without extorting any confession, the Chancellor ordered the Lieutenant of the Tower to stretch the rack still further. The refractory officer refused compliance, though repeatedly ordered by the highest Judge in the land, and menaced with the King's displeasure and the utmost vengeance of the law. Thereupon (such are the enormities which may be prompted by superstitious zeal!) Wriothesley, on |