March, 1553; memorable attempt to influence elections to the lower house;
the system of royal nominations; spirit of resistance so great that parliament
was dissolved in the month in which it met; Edward's approaching death forces
Northumberland to attempt to regulate the succession; the legal difficulties to
be overcome; claims of Mary and Elizabeth; claims of the house of Suffolk;
the marriage between Lady Grey and Guildford Dudley; Edward's illegal
attempt to set aside all claimants prior to Jane by means of a will; will executed
June 21, and Edward died July 6, 1553; failure of Northumberland's conspiracy 130

CHAPTER IV.

MARY AND THE CATHOLIC REACTION.

1. The First Two Stages of the English Reformation: the first, embodying

only a legal and ecclesiastical separation from Rome, was cheerfully accepted

by the bulk of the nation, with the understanding that the ancient dogma and

ritual should be retained

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.

The second stage, embodying a change of dogma and ritual, not accepted at first

by the bulk of the nation; the cause greatly prejudiced during the second stage

by the greed and recklessness of its leaders; the nation finally refused to sup-

port the protestant party headed by Northumberland, even in the interest of

Jane Grey; religious status of Mary; her right to the crown sanctioned by par-

liament; proclaimed by the council in London on the 19th of July, 1553; visits

the Tower and releases Norfolk and Gardiner

134

2. Mary's Accession: the conservative policy of Gardiner; his views as to the

supremacy; sent to the Tower by Somerset; comes back to power resolved to

restore Henry's ecclesiastical system; Mary's first parliament legislated only

to that extent; treasons act of 25 Edw. III. restored; queen's legitimacy settled

and her mother's divorce annulled; nine statutes of Edward's reign, as to creed

and ritual, repealed; form of divine service in use at the end of Henry's reign

reëstablished by law; Act of Supremacy not repealed, Mary remaining the

"Supreme Head" down to April, 1554

Mary resolved from the outset to reestablish the Roman supremacy; seeks to
strengthen her hands by a marriage with Philip; Cardinal Pole advocates the
alliance; marriage treaty executed in January, 1554; national opposition to the
marriage; the commons petitioned against it; the revolt under Wyatt; the
queen's triumph; Lady Jane Grey, Wyatt, and others sent to the block, and
Elizabeth to the Tower; protestant party crushed; Mary inaugurates a policy of
reaction; a marriage bill passed by parliament; also an act to legalize Mary's
position as the first queen regnant; Philip and Mary married in July, 1554

3. The Reconciliation with Rome, - Philip and Pole: Philip attempts to

conciliate the nation by assurances to the holders of church property; Pole

authorized to "treat, compound, and dispense" as to rents and profits; power

to alienate real property finally granted; means employed by Philip to secure a

compliant parliament; papal supremacy reestablished, after an interval of thirty

years; Pole's attainder reversed; parliament acknowledges the supremacy and

receives absolution; contents of the act embodying the new concordat; list of

the Reformation statutes repealed; all that remained of Henry's ecclesiastical

135

. 137

legislation thus swept away; precautions taken to secure the holders of church
property against the claims of the clergy; authority of church courts restored
with a proviso which involved a relinquishment; mortmain act suspended for
twenty years; parliament defends the rights of Elizabeth; the regency bill;
revival of the heresy statutes

139
4. The Persecution and its Consequences: clerical exemptions; origin of the
church courts and the growth of the canon law; criminal jurisdiction of the
church courts; right to punish sin as such usually limited in practice to heresy,
blasphemy, and certain other offences; inquisitorial procedure; the ex officio
oath; enforcement of clerical decrees; imprisonment under the writ de ex com-
municato capiendo

Since the conversion, English law has rested upon the tacit assumption of the

truths of Christianity; first heresy statutes aimed against the old heathenism;

down to the Lollard revolt, ordinary process of church courts sufficed for the

punishment of heresy; continental canon law in cases of heresy imposed death

by burning; statute of 5 Rich. II. c. 5; 2 Hen. IV. c. 15 (de hæretico combu-

rendo); Sawtre burned a week before its passage under the writ de hæretico; no

such writ ever issued before that time; acts of 1381, 1400, and 1414 unaltered

until 1553; statute of 25 Hen. VIII. c. 14; first positive statutory definition of

heresy contained in the Act of the Six Articles; whole statutory system for the

punishment of heresy swept away by 1 Edw. VI. c. 12; revived by 1 & 2

Phil. & Mar. c. 6.

Religious persecution the outcome of medieval intolerance; the infallible power

to teach supposed to carry with it the right to extirpate error by physical means;

the right claimed by all sects; personal as opposed to corporate infallibility;

the Marian persecution carried on under old statutes and in the old form .

Statistics of the persecution; nearly all the victims taken from the southeast of

England; its failure to accomplish the desired end; Gardiner as a persecutor;

after his death in November, 1555, Pole became supreme in church and state;

failure to restore the abbey lands and firstfruits; partial restitution made by

crown and parliament; edict of Paul IV. as to the inalienable character of

church estates; an exception made of England in order to save Pole's work;

Paul's animosity to Pole; revoked his legatine commission in the summer of

1557; Pole accused at Rome of heresy; loyalty of the nation to Elizabeth;

Both Mary and Pole died on the 17th of November, 1558 .

CHAPTER V.

ELIZABETH AND THE FINAL SETTLEMENT.

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144

147

148

1. The Last Two Stages of the English Reformation: the third stage, co-

extensive with the reactionary reign of Mary, culminated in her famous perse-

cution; the fourth and last stage began with the accession of Elizabeth, who

compelled all parties to acquiesce in a state system of religious uniformity;

Elizabeth's political temper; Cecil's masterful policy; the judicious middle

course; difficulties confronting Elizabeth and Cecil; all changes forbidden until

the meeting of parliament; Paul IV. and Elizabeth's title to the throne; council

so reorganized as to put the protestants in the ascendant; first parliament met

in January, 1559 ·

. 152

2. Terms of the Final Settlement: summary of the act restoring the royal supre-

macy; persecuting statutes repealed; penalties for recognizing the papal supre-

macy; papal prerogatives now annexed to the crown and not to the sovereign

personally; origin of the Court of High Commissions; new oath of allegiance

and supremacy; new Act of Uniformity; preliminary proclamations; secret

commission to draft a new prayer-book; "low church" prayer-book of 1552

annexed as a schedule to the Act of Uniformity; after enacting other important

legislation, parliament dissolved in May, 1559

Defiant spirit of convocation under the presidency of Bonner; protest of the

Marian bishops and clergy against Elizabeth's innovations; reorganization of

the episcopate; means of removal furnished by the Act of Supremacy; all the

bishops refused the oath, except Kitchin of Llandaff; how to fill the vacancies

a difficult problem; the vacant see of Canterbury; failure of the first attempt

to consecrate Dr. Parker; the second commission with the sanitary clause;

Parker finally consecrated according to a form which existed in the reign of

Edward VI.; he takes part in the consecration of all the rest.

Spirit of resistance manifested by the bishops did not extend to the inferior clergy;

English Church definitely allied to the cause of the Reformation; Elizabeth

refused to send representatives to the Council of Trent; the Eleven Articles of

1559-61; the Thirty-nine Articles adopted in 1563 in a convocation which sat

under the presidency of Parker; reviewed in 1571, and made binding upon the

clergy by act of parliament; composite character of Elizabeth's work; Roman

Catholics and extreme protestants both refuse to accept the result; a bitter

warfare against both

3. Struggle of Elizabeth with the Catholic Party: regulation of religious wor-

ship assumed to be a state function; statutes designed to punish the offense of

non-conformity to the state church; at first only an outward uniformity de-

manded, but freedom of public worship denied; Elizabeth put an end to burn-

ings for heresy; tolerant treatment of the inferior clergy; tendency of English

catholics to outward conformity checked by a papal brief in 1562; the counter-

blast, the act of 1563, the first of the series for the oppression of Roman

Catholics; contents of the act; moderation of the primate in its enforcement;

Horne tendered the oath to Bonner; legal status of the new bishops ques-

tioned in the queen's bench; controversy ended by an act passed in 1566.

The scheme for the deposition of Elizabeth to be carried out by the pope, Philip,
and the English catholics in favor of Mary Stuart; Mary's claim to the succes-
sion; forced to abdicate in favor of her son, James VI. of Scotland; a prisoner
in Elizabeth's hands; the threatened Spanish invasion in her behalf; failure of
the rising in the north which took place in November, 1569; bull of excom-
munication and deposition published in March, 1570; two statutes passed for
the queen's protection; the first to prohibit the publication of papal bulls; the
second to punish those who should claim the crown during the queen's life;
oppression of the Roman Catholic priesthood; the college at Douay; another
at Rome; fresh legislation against Roman Catholics in 1581; torture and con-
viction of the Jesuit, Campian; association formed for the protection of the
queen's life; an act legalizing the association passed in 1584; under that act
as amended was constituted the commission which, in 1586, condemned the
Queen of Scots; persecution of catholics continued; the act of 1593 increasing

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156

158

160

.

163

. 168

the penalties of recusancy; result of Elizabeth's persecution compared with that
of Mary's

4. Struggle of Elizabeth with the Puritan Party: the Bible as the only

source of inspiration; Tyndale's translation of the New Testament; Lollard

ideas live on until the reign of Henry VIII.; influence of Luther supplanted by

that of Calvin; Calvinistic system of church government; a commonwealth of

independent, self-governing churches; the source of authority the sovereign

Christian man; his right of private judgment; the new Christian democracy

denied the religious supremacy of kings; also the authority of the episcopate;

reformers declared their purpose to substitute for the ancient a simple and

"pure" form of doctrine; the Scotch “covenant” of 1557; Calvinistic ideas in

England; the Marian exiles sought refuge at Zurich and Geneva

The inevitable conflict between Calvinistic ideas and the state church as reëstab-
lished by Elizabeth; the queen's personal predilections; first opposition to the
state church arose from within from a party called Puritan; coercive measures
taken in 1565 against Puritan clergymen; those who refused to conform were
deprived; thus driven to open schism; a separate conventicle suppressed in 1567;
Puritan assault upon the episcopate led by Cartwright; Hooker's "Ecclesiasti-
cal Polity" an answer to Puritan dogmatism; the polemical discussions called
"prophesyings; " Grindal, who refused to suppress them, sequestered; suc-
ceeded by Whitgift, who proceeded with the aid of the high commission; Mar-
tin Mar-Prelate tracts; forced interpretation put upon the act of 1581 in order
to punish Puritan "libellers;" the state church reinforced by the adhesion of
many moderate Roman Catholics; fresh assault made upon recusants and
non-conformists by two acts passed in 1593

5. Court of High Commission in Causes Ecclesiastical: Henry VIII. gov-

erned the church first through his vicar-general; and then by means of royal

proclamations and commissions, which for a time superseded synodical canons;

Elizabeth authorized by the Act of Supremacy to govern through commissions;

the permanent Court of High Commission created in 1583; its jurisdiction as

defined in the commission; a statutory limitation in cases of heresy; authorized

to administer the ex officio oath, but could not impose the death penalty; pun-

ished not only non-conformity and clerical improprieties, but lay immorality;

its conflict with the courts of common law; abolished by an act of the Long

Parliament.

.

170

173

6. Constitution of the Council in the Days of Elizabeth: Tudor system of
government drew its strength from the moral force of the royal authority; the
council the great organ of administration; its agencies; Ireland, Jersey, and
Guernsey controlled by the council; courts-martial as agents of the council; im-
properly employed in times of peace; the council gradually transformed from
an independent body into a corps of royal officials; reinforced by commoners,
who assumed the more active duties; divided into committees, to each of
which special duties were assigned; origin and growth of the office of secretary;
becomes a member of the council ex officio; Robert Cecil becomes "principal
secretary of state; " the privy council; division of its members into two classes;
the inner or working body transformed into the cabinet of modern times. . 176
The council supervised the entire state machinery and punished individuals
directly; the council a legislature, law court, and administrative body; the

ordaining power of the king in council; the law of the land which it could not

alter; parliament gave to the proclamations of Henry VIII. the force of law;

proclamations continued to be issued after the repeal of 31 Hen. VIII. c. 8; the

ordaining power as exercised by Mary and Elizabeth; the practice contrasted

with the legal theory

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The council sitting as the star chamber; its vast powers as a court of original

jurisdiction; its supervision of the law courts; its censorship of the press; the

censorial power strictly organized under Elizabeth; printing without a special

license prohibited; the monopoly known as the Stationers' Company; to the

star chamber can be traced the beginnings of the law of libel; right of individual

councillors to order arrests; the remonstrance made by the judges in 1591

against that right; admission of the right when exercised by the council as a

whole

As an administrative body the council controlled the finances, commerce, the

church, and the public peace; also the affairs of the colonies; and to a certain

extent all branches of political administration at home

181

183

7. Development of Local Institutions: England an aggregation of local, self-

governing communities; the township became involved in several distinct rela-

tions, from each of which it derived a new title; the village community as the

tun or township; the township as the tithing; the township as the manor; the

manorial court; the township as the parish; the parish vestry; the township

generally known as the parish, which survives as a fundamental institution of

the state

183

The composite machinery of the parish; who are members of it; the rector as its

ecclesiastical head; church-wardens as parish officers; their right to summon

the vestry meeting, in which every person present has an equal right to vote;

origin of the right to make by-laws; right of the parish to levy taxes begins

with the imposition of the church rate; originally a voluntary contribution;

afterwards imposed by the wardens as a common burden, after consultation;

parochial and parliamentary taxation compared; the basis of parochial taxation;

upon the liability to contribute, as evidenced by the parish register, rested the

status of the parishioner

185

During the Middle Ages the church provided for the poor by means of tithes ;

the state undertook only to punish begging and vagrancy; care of the poor

became the special business of the monasteries; their dissolution finally cast the

duty upon the state; first assumed by 27 Hen. VIII. c. 25, which provided only

for voluntary contributions; duty of the church-wardens; 5 & 6 Edw. VI.

c. 2; compulsory contributions inaugurated by Elizabeth; the great act of 39

Eliz. c. 3, upon which the English system of poor relief has since rested; a

parochial tax imposed as a general and uniform burden; how assessed; how

applied; poor-houses; work-houses; the poor-rate the basis of all parochial

taxation

The parish and the public highways; the trinoda necessitas, originally a personal

obligation, finally imposed upon the holding of all land by freemen; the par-

ishes maintain the roads, the counties the bridges; the statute of bridges (22

Hen. VIII. c. 5); common-law obligation to maintain the roads enforced

against the parish by indictment; surveyors of highways created by 2 & 3

Phil. & Mar. c. 8; a highway rate assessed by justices of the peace; the

188