appertain, and semblably to do with other strangers, whom ye shall hear to be offenders in that part.

Fourthly. Our pleasure and commandment is, that you shall on our behalf, give straight commandment upon like pain of deprivation and farther punishment, to all parsons, vicars, curates and governors of religious houses, colleges, and other places ecclesiastical within your diocese, that they and every of them shall, touching the indifferent praise of ceremonies, the avoiding of contentions, and contemptuous communication concerning any of the same, and the distinct and plain reading of our Articles, observe and perform in their churches, monasteries, and other houses ecclesiastical aforesaid, the very same order that is before to you prescribed.

And further, that ye permit nor suffer any man of what degree soever he be in learning, stranger, or other, to preach in any place within your said diocese, out of his own church, by virtue of any licence by us, or any of our ministers, granted before the fifteenth day of this month, neither in your presence nor elsewhere; unless he be a man of such honesty, learning, and judgment, as you shall think able for that purpose, and one whom in manner you dare answer for.

Finally. Whereas we be advertised, that divers priests have presumed to marry themselves contrary to the custom of our Church of England; our pleasure is, you shall make strict inquiry within your diocese whether there be any such resiant within the same, or no. And in case you find that there be any such priests who have presumed to marry themselves, and have sithhence used or exercised in any thing the office of priesthood, we charge you, as you will answer upon the pains aforesaid, to cause them to be apprehended, and to send them up unto us accordingly.

Given under our signet at our castle of Windsor,
the twentieth of November, in the twenty-eighth
year of our reign.

XL.

The Form of the Beads in Ireland.

33.

A.D. 1537.

Ye shall pray for the universal Catholic Church, both quick Paper-office. and dead, and especially for the Church of England and Ire

land. First, for our sovereign lord the king, supreme head in earth, immediate under God, of the said Church of England and Ireland; and for the declaration of the truth thereof, ye shall understand, that the unlawful jurisdiction, power, and authority, of long time usurped by the bishop of Rome in Ireland and England, who then was called pope, is now, by God's law, justly, lawfully, and upon good grounds, reasons and causes, by authority of parliament, and by and with the whole consent and agreements of all the bishops, prelates, and both the universities of Oxon and Cambridge, and also the whole clergy, both of England and Ireland, extinct and ceased for ever, as of no strength, value, or effect, in the Church of England or Ireland; in the which Church the said whole clergy, bishops and prelates, with the universities of Oxon and Cambridge, have, according to God's laws, and upon good and lawful reasons and grounds, knowledged the King's Highness to be supreme head in earth, immediate under God, of this Church of England and Ireland; which their knowledge confessed, being now by parliament established, and by God's laws justifiable to be justly executed; so ought every true Christian subject of this land, not only to knowledge, and obediently to recognize the King's Highness to be supreme head in earth of the Church of England and Ireland; but also to speak, publish, and teach their children and servants the same; and to show unto them how that the said bishop of Rome hath heretofore usurped not only upon God, but also upon our princes. Wherefore, and to the intent that ye should the better believe me herein, and take and receive the truth as ye ought to do; I declare this not only of myself, which I know to be true, but also declare unto you, that the same is certified unto me from the mouth of my ordinary, the archbishop of Dublin, under his seal, which I have here ready to show you; so that now it appeareth plainly, that the said bishop of Rome hath neither authority nor power in this land, nor never had by God's laws; therefore I exhort you all, that ye deface him in all your Primers, and other books, where he is named pope; and that ye shall have from henceforth no confidence nor trust in him, nor his bulls or letters of pardon, which before, with his juggling-casts of binding and loosing, he sold unto you for your money, promising you therefore forgiveness of your sins; whereof truth, no man can forgive sins but only

God; and also that ye fear not his great thunder-claps of excommunication or interdiction, for they cannot hurt you: but let us put all our confidence and trust in our Saviour Jesus Christ, which is gentle and loving, and requireth nothing of us when we have offended him, but that we should repent and forsake our sins, and believe stedfastly that he is Christ, the Son of the living God, and that he died for our sins, and so forth, as it is contained in the Creed. And that through him, and by him, and by none other, we shall have remission of our sins, et pœna et culpa, according to his promises made unto us in many and sundry places of Scripture. On this part ye shall pray also for the prosperous estate of our young prince, prince Edward, with all other the king's issue; and for all archbishops and bishops, and especially for my lord archbishop of Dublin, and for all the clergy, and namely, for all them that preach the word of God purely and sincerely on the second part, ye shall pray for all earls, barons, lords; and in especial, for the estate of the right honourable the lord Leonard Gray, lord deputy of this land of Ireland, and for all them that be of the king's most honourable council; that God may put them in mind to give such counsel, that it may be to the pleasure of Almighty God, and wealth of this land. You shall pray also for the mayor of this city, and his brethren, with all the commonalty of the same; and for the parishioners of this parish, and generally for all the temporality. On the third part, ye shall pray for the souls that be departed out of this world, in the faith of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which sleep in rest and peace, that they may rise again with Christ in eternal life; for these, and for grace, every man say a pater noster, and an ave, &c.

XLI.

:

Relaxation of the regal Suspension of Episcopal Jurisdiction; or, Licentia Domini Regis ad exercendam Jurisdictionem. Henricus Octavus, Dei gratia, Angliæ et Franciæ Rex, Registrum Stokesly, Fidei Defensor, ac in terris supremum Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ fol. 48. sub Christo Caput, reverendo in Christo patri Johanni Lond. episcopo salutem. Quandoquidem omnis juris dicendi auctoritas, atque etiam jurisdictio omnimoda, tam illa quæ ecclesiastica dicitur, quam sæcularis, a regia potestate velut a

34.

supremo capite et omnium infra regnum nostrum magistratuum fonte et scaturigine primitus emanavit: sane illos, qui jurisdictiones hujusmodi antehac, non nisi precario fungebantur, beneficium hujusmodi sic eis ex liberalitate regia eis indultum gratis animis agnoscere, idque regiæ munificentiæ solummodo acceptum referre, eique (quoties ejus majestati videbitur) libenter cedere convenit. Cum itaque alias supremum totius Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ in terris sub Christo caput, tametsi sic semper jure tam divino quam humano, ut prædecessores nostri semper fuere (eruntque successores nostri in perpetuum) a clero tamen et populo hujus regni nuper sic recogniti et declarati, universum clerum totius regni nostri Angliæ visitare intendentes, et visitationem hujusmodi inchoantes prout re vera inchoavimus, per dilectum nobis Thomam Cromwell secretarium nostrum primarium, et rotulorum sive scriniorum nostrorum magistrum et custodem nostrum, ad quascunque causas Ecclesiasticas nostra auctoritate, uti supremi capitis dictæ Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ quomodolibet tractandas sive ventilandas vicem-gerentem, vicarium generalem et officialem principalem, per alias literas patentes sigillo nostro majori communitas constituerimus et præfecerimus: reverendissimoque patri et prædilecto consiliario nostro Thomæ Cantuariensi archiepiscopo, ac per eum tibi, et aliis hujus regni nostri episcopis quibuscunque, ne pendente visitatione nostra hujusmodi aliquas ecclesias aut monasteria sive loca alia ecclesiastica quæcunque, visitare, aut ea quæ sunt jurisdictionis exercere, attemptares, sive attemptarent, per alias literas nostras inhibuerimus. Quia tamen ipse Thomas Cromwell, nostris et hujus regni nostri Angliæ tot et tam arduis negotiis adeo præpeditus existit, qui quoad omnem jurisdictionem nobis ut supremo capiti hujusmodi competentem, ubique locorum infra hoc nostrum regnum, et præsertim in his quæ commode moram non patiuntur, aut sine subditorum nostrorum injuria deferri non possint, in sua persona expedienda non sufficiet: nos tuis in hac parte supplicationibus humilibus inclinati, tibi vices nostras sub modo et forma inferius descriptis committendas fore decrevimus, teque licentiandum esse. Ad ordinandum igitur quoscunque infra diocesim tuam London :-quos moribus et literatura prævio diligenti et rigoroso examine idoneos fore compereris.-After this authority for conferring orders, the bishop's commission from the king proceeds to empower

him for other branches of ecclesiastical jurisdiction; such as institution and collation to benefices, probate of wills, &c. to which this remarkable clause is added: Cæteraque omnia et singula in præmissis, seu circa necessaria seu quomodolibet opportuna, præter et ultra ea quæ tibi ex sacris literis divinitus. commissa esse dignoscuntur, vice, nomine et auctoritate nostris exequenda, &c.

XLII.

The Abbot and Convent of St. Edmondsbury's Grant of an Annuity to Thomas Cromwell and his Son.

R. Harley,

Omnibus Christi fidelibus, ad quos hoc præsens scriptum Biblioth. pervenerit, Johannes permissione divina, abbas monasterii de Armig. Bury Sancti Edmundi, et ejusdem loci conventus, salutem in 27 Hen. 8. Domino sempiternam. Sciatis nos præfatos abbatem et conventum unanimi assensu et consensu nostris, pro plurimis beneficiis nobis per egregium virum Thomam Cromwell armigerum, primarium secretarium Domini Henrici Octavi, Dei gratia, Angliæ et Franciæ regis, Fidei Defensoris, et domini Hiberniæ, ac in terra supremi capitis Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ, impensis, dedisse, concessisse, ac per præsentes dare et concedere eidem Thomæ et Gregorio Cromwell armigero, filio et hæredi apparenti ejusdem, unum annualem redditum sive annuitatem decem librarum sterling. habendum et annuatim percipiendum dictum annualem redditum sive annuitatem decem librarum, eisdem Thomæ et Gregorio, et eorum utrique, ad terminum vitæ dictorum Thomæ et Gregorii, et utriusque eorum diutius viventium, de et in manerio nostro de Garlew cum pertinentiis in com. Essex ad festa Paschæ et Sancti Michaelis Archangeli, æquis portionibus annuatim a nobis in usum dictorum Thomæ et Gregorii, et utriusque eorum diutius viventium, solvendum. In cujus rei testimonium huic præsenti scripto nostro sigillum nostrum commune apposuimus.

Dat. in domo nostra capitulari infra monasterium supradictum vicesimo sexto die Novembris. anno regni regis Henrici Octavi vicesimo septimo, &c.