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causes, as well about the interment of the King^s father, as

for the expedition of his own coronation.

The nobi- The morrow after, beino- Tuesday, all the Lords afore-

lity kiss the . ^ o »/ ^
King's said, and most part of the nobility of the realm, as well spi-

hand. ntual as temporal, there assembled about three of the clock

14 in the afternoon, went into the King's chamber of presence.

And after that the Earl of Hertford, the Lord Admiral,

and other of the King's executors, had brought the King's

Majesty from his privy chamber to his chair of estate pre-

pared in the chamber, his Highness there standing, all the

said Lords according to their degrees proceeded in order

one after another : and there kneeling kissed liis Majesty's

hand, saying every one of them, " God save your Grace.""

And after they had so done, the Lord Chancellor in most

eloquent wise declared unto them the effect of the late no-

ble King's last will and testament, with the names of the

executors therein contained, being sixteen in number,

(which are commonly to be seen in our historians.) Adding,

OF KING EDWARD VI. 9S

that it was condescended and agreed with the whole assent CHAP,

and consent of them all, that the Earl of Hertford should '

be governor of the young King during his nonage. Where- ^""^ i546.

upon all the said Lords made answer in one voice, ThatJ^g^j^^^^lj^^

there was none so meet for the same in all the realm as he ; accepted

and said also, That they were well content withal. Then thcof the"^'^

Earl gave them hearty thanks, and said, he trusted in God K^'"s's

so to use himself, that it should be to their contentation,

and required them in general to afford him their aid and

help in the right of the realm. Who made answer all in

one voice. That they would be ready at all times with all

their might and power, both for the defence of the realm

and of the King. This ended, they cried all together with a

loud voice, " God save the noble King Edward.*" Then the

King's Majesty put off his cap, and said, '' We heartily

" thank you, my Lords all ; and hereafter in all that ye

'' shall have to do with us for any suit or causes, ye shall

" be heartily welcome to us."' Then immediately after, all The Lords

the Lords temporal were warned to repair to the Star- ^^'"P^"^^''

chamber at Westminster, upon the next morrow, to be

sworn to the King : and so they were.
On Thursday and Friday ensuing were sworn at the And spiri-

same chamber the Lords spiritual ; and the Master of the to^the^"'^'^

Rolls, with the Clerks of the Chancery, in like manner ^ing-

sworn, to register the testament and last will of the late no-

ble King Henry.
When this high dignity and trust was devolved upon the The Protec-

Earl of Hertford, he, hke a considerate man, began to think tor's prayer

well what a weighty and ticklish office lay upon him ; and

how much wisdom and conduct it required to govern this

great people : and therefore, first of all, like a good Chris-

tian, solemnly implored the assistance of the King of kings

in a very proper devout prayer, (which, I suppose, was his

constant form.) Therein professing to God, how holy and

sincere his intentions were, and that his endeavours should

be to promote the divine glory and the good of God's

Church. And for that end beseeching the Almighty to

inspire him with all suitable qualifications; to grant him

c 4

24 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL

BOOK wisdom, and by his counsel to set forth his cause; and to

give knowledge to all that should counsel him. And that

Anno 1546. as God had begun great things by his hand, so to let him

be his minister to defend them. By the whole prayer may
be perceived his piety and good intentions. See it in the
B. Repository.
Prociama- On Friday, February 4, Chester Herald, accompanied
:laims*at the ^^^^^ trumpets, proclaimed this proclamation in three several
coronation, places in London. " Edward the Sixth, &c. Where by the
Oliic. Ar- .
mor. i. 7. " laws and ancient customs of this realm of England, the

15 " noble Knights and other the King^s subjects, by sundry

" tenures of their lands and hereditaments, are bounden to

" attend upon his Majesty''s person royal at the time and

" day of his Grace''s coronation ; to do, exhibit, and min-

" ister to his Highness their several services, duties, min-

*' istries, and offices ; and thereupon to receive of his Ma-

** jesty such gifts, fees, and rewards, as to several services,

" offices, and duties of ancient time hath been accustomed

" and appertained ; his Majesty Royal by his proclama-

" tion signifieth to all his said nobility, and other his

*' subjects, claiming to do service at his said coronation,

" that his Majesty hath by his Highness' commission, ap-

*' pointed, assigned, and authorized his right trusty and

" right wellbeloved cousins and counsellors Francis Earl of

** Shrewsbury, William Earl of Essex, and John Lord

" Viscount Lisle, High Admiral of England ; and his

'* right wellbeloved counsellors Richard Lyster, Kt. Chief

" Justice of England, and Edward Mountague, Kt. Chief

" Justice of the Common Pleas, [&c.] and eight, or three

" of them, to be Commissioners for the receiving and al-

" lowance of the said claims. Who shall be^in his Ma-

*' jesty 's courts for that purpose upon Monday the 8th of

<< this month of February, within Whitehall of his Ma-

*' jesty "'s palace."

rhe King On Sunday following, the King was made Knight by the

(nighted. Lord Protector, his uncle. And immediately upon the

same his Highness made the Mayor of London, and Justice

Portman, Knights.

OF KING EDWARD VI. 25

Upon Monday next after, the King's Commissioners CHAP,

began the Court of Claims and Services in Whitehall. *^'

On Friday, Feb. 11, [10,] the Lord Protector did re- Anno i546\

ceive and make oath, before the Lord Chancellor in West- ^"^^^^^^^

minster Hall, to be a true Treasurer to the King, as of his rj,^^ Lord

treasure, and to dehver it truly, when it should be de- I'rotector
t n 1 ^ • 1 sworn,
manded. And also to his power to defend his realm, and to

witlistand the power of the Bishop of Home and his laws.

Then Thursday, Feb. 17, that is, the day next after the And created

burial of the late famous King, all the temporal Lords as-

sembled at the Tower of London in their robes of estate ;

where the aforesaid Earl of Hertford was created Duke of

Somerset, together with some other creations.
One of the first cares of the deceased King's executors, Commis-

and counsellors to the young King, was to renew commis- j^""^;^*^^ J^*_^

sions to the Justices of peace of the realm ; whose for- newed.

mer commissions, immediately upon King Henry's death,

actually ceased. Which was necessary in the first place to

be looked after, that so the course of justice and the order

of laws throughout the countries might run as they did

before. To these commissions the persons subscribed, who

by the late King's will were made the chief administrators

of the government, till the King should attain to eighteen

years of age. And particularly wholesome politic directions

were given to the said Justices, in order to the preserving

of peace, righteousness, and good order; and for their

meeting in the several hundreds every six weeks, and that

no alteration or innovation should be made. The commis-

sion to those of the county of Norfolk may deserve to be

perused. The original is in the Cotton library. W^hich tran- cott. Li-

scribed will be found in the Repository. !j,'.^J^^- ^ ^

King Edward VI. a child, but of admirable hopes, being seimour,

thus come to the crown, his uncle, created Duke of Somer- Governor

111-1 r' ^ '^~
set, (which honour, they say, was intended him by Kingtector.

Henry,) was (as we heard before) governor of his person. i(y

Who in the beginning of this reign grew an exceeding great

man, swelling with titles. And this was his style ; " The

" most noble and victorious Prince Edward, Duke of So-

26 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL

ROOK " merset, Earl of Hertford, Viscount Beauchamp, Lord

" Seimour, Governor of the person of the King's Majesty,

Anno 1546." and Protcctor of all his realms, his Lieutenant General

" of all his armies both by land and by sea, Lord High

" Treasurer, and Earl Marshal of England, Governor of

" the Isles of Guernsey and Jersey, and Knight of the

" most noble order of the Garter.""

He is the And because as he was thus great, so he also was a very
vourite! ^' geucrous and good man, and a sincere favourer of the Gos-

pel, he was entirely beloved of those that professed it, and

for the most part by the populacy ; and therefore was com-

monly called. The good Duhe. And indeed died the people's

martyr.
Gets a great It added Still further to his s^lory and esteem, that he ffot
victory over . i o. • i • r» p i
the Scots, a complete victory over the Scots in this nrst year oi the

King, in the month of September : and it was the more glo-

rious to him, in that the Scots were not only match and

equal in force with the Protector's army, but treble, or at

least double in number at the first onset, as was reported

by strangers. And it was the more glorious still, because it

was now given out, that this success would effect or bring

on two admirable ends : " the one, the bettering and per-

" fecting the crown imperial of England, in reconciling the

" unnatural and ungodly hatred between two members of

" one body, viz. England and Scotland ; which of right

" and office should be as the right hand and the left, in

" peace and amity, to resist and withstand the force of all

" strange and foreign assaults. And the other, that the

" old amity and friendship might be restored between the

" two kingdoms, that God by the creation of the world

" appointed to be in this one realm and island, divided

" from all the world by the impaking of the sea, and by

" natural parentage and blood ; one in language and

"speech, in form and proportion of personage; one in

" manners and condition of living. And that the occasion

" of all discord and hatred banished, the good Scotish

" English man might confess and do the same at home that

" he did in foreign countries, calling an English man al-

OF KING EDWARD VI. 27

'' ways his countryman, and studious to do him pleasure CHAP.
" before any other nation of the world. The breach of this "'
" divine and natural friendship was the very work of the Anno 1546.
" Devil by his wicked members, that hath not only taught
" Scotland disobedience unto her natural and lawful Prince
" and superior power, the King's Majesty of England, but
" the contempt of Christ, and his most holy word.'' As
John Hoper, then at Zuric, (afterward bishop and martyr,) Dedarat. of
, • 1 • -1 T 1 1-11 IT J *^l • Christ and
spake m his epistle to a book which he dedicatecl to tins 1,^5 office.

Duke soon after this victory.

CHAP. III.

The Protector s declarations and letters before and after

the zvar with Scotland. Sir W. Pagefs new-year s-gift

to the Protector. King Edzcard's coronation. His piety.
J3UT to stay a little at this war with Scotland, which Anno 1547.

miffht seem to be hardly reconcileable with ffood policy, so'T''^ ^^"^^

c' -^ 1 • 1 ., of entering
soon after a young King's access to his crown, to embroil into war

himself in wars with his next neiojhbours, and that only ^''^J; '^^^^'

CI ^ J land.
upon the account of a mistress. Therefore to lay open the

merits of this cause somewhat more particularly than our

printed histories have done. Before actual entrance into

this hostility, the Lord Protector issued out proclamations,

" declaring therein to the Scots, the justness of the English

" quarrel with them, and offering them all the terms of

" peace, in case they would perform what the states of

" Scotland had before agreed to, in relation to the mar-

" riage with the daughter of Scotland ; and assuring them

" that they came not with any design to conquer their

" country, or make themselves masters over the Scots, to

" bring them into any bondage : but that both kingdoms

" might live for time to come in perfect love and amity."
But the Scotch governors and captains withheld these The Scotch

proclamations from their nation, and stifled them for their JJ^^.^s^to

own particular wealth and interest ; not regarding the pub- England.

lie good so much as their own private power and authority;

28 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL

BOOK still abusing the people with forgeries and tales concerning

'• the English nation.

Anno 1547. As the Lord Protector dealt thus fairly with that nation

The Lord before the ^var, so after his victory and return home, he en-
Protector's i i n p • i
letter to deavoured by all fair means and messages to pursue the

ScotJand. ^^^^le ends. And indeed a very great number of the Scotish

realm, that more impartially considered the benefit of the

friendship of England, and the danger of the French, who

were sending forces now to Scotland to assist them, came

over to the King's side, and were well-willers to him, and

aiders of his purpose. There was a very excellent letter

exhortatory sent to the Scots by the Lord Protector, in the

beginning of February; which was also printed, I suppose,

for this end, that it might not be stifled, as his other former

letters and proclamations were ; but that it might be read

of all. Of which notable letter our historians make no

mention : herein he wrote, " that it made him to marvel

" what fatal chance it was that had so dissevered their

" hearts, and made them so unmindful of their own profit,

" to heap to themselves most extreme miseries, which the

" English, whom they would needs have their enemies, Ment

" about to take away from them. That though they [the

" English] were superiors in the field, and masters of a great

" part of their realm, and so might expect the Scots should

" seek to them, yet such was their charity and brotherly

18 " love, that they would not cease to provoke and call upon

" them to their own commodity : and they were content to

" cry and call upon them, to have the Enghsh rather their

" brothers than their enemies, their countrymen than their

" conquerors. And this should be a witness before God

" and all Christian people between the two nations, that the

" English, professing the Gospel of Christ, did not cease to

"• call and provoke them from the efi^usion of their own

" blood, and the destruction of the realm of Scotland, from

" perpetual feud and hatred, and the final eradication of

" their nation, and from servitude to foreign nations.'"

The Protector, in his said letter, shewed " the great bat-

" ties that had been fought between the two realms, the in-

OF KING EDWARD VI. 29

" cursions, roads, and spoils made on both parts; how the CHAP.

" reahii of Scotland was five times won by one King of.

" England, and several of the Scotish Kings, some taken ^""o ^^'^'^'

" prisoners, some slain, and some for very sorrow dying.
" And how notwithstanding both nations were united to-
" gether in one language, in one island, in like manners,
" form, and conditions ; so that it was a very unmeet, un-
" natural, and unchristian thing, that there should be such
" mortal wars between them."
And then to incline them to allow the marriage, he pro-

ceeded, " that if God should grant whatsoever the Scots

" would wish, what could they wish sooner, than that which

" now by fortune chanced, that these two kingdoms might

" be united under one ruler ? And that two successions

" could not concur and fall into one by any other means

*' than by marriage, whereby one blood, one lineage, one

*'¦ parentage, is made of two, and an indefectible right given

" of both to one, without the destruction and abolishing of

" other : which, he said, he would have them to think to

'' come of God's own disposition and providence. And that

" the rather, because the two sons of the former King, be-

" ing in divers places, both died within four and twenty

" hours : leaving but one maiden child and princess.

" What could any Christian man, that thought the world

" governed by God's providence, think otherwise, but that

" it was God's pleasure it should be so, that these two

" realms should join in marriage, and thereby make a godly

" and perpetual unity. He protested, as his proclamations

" at the last wars declared also, that it was the King his

" master's mind, by his [the Protector's] advice and counsel,

'' not to conquer, but to have in amity; not to win by force,

" but to conciliate by love ; not to spoil and kill, but to

" save and keep ; not to dissever and divorce, but to join

" in marriage, from high to low, both the realms; to make

" of both one isle and realm, in love, amity, concord, and

" charity."
He urged further, " that it could not be denied but they

*' had the great seal of Scotland granted by the Parliament

30

MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL

BOOK

Anno 1547.

19

* of Scotland, for the marriage, with assurances and pledges

' until the performance, and that in the time of the late

' King Henry VIII. And in the time of the same, the

' Scotch Governor that now was, [viz. the Earl of Arran,]

' was a great doer therein : though after, by the Cardinal of

' St. Andrew's and others, with certain vain fears and hopes,

' and greediness of dignity, perverted, and revolted from

' his first agreement : whereby he had put all the realm to

' the loss of such holds and fortresses as were lately taken
* from them, and to the loss of a foughten field.""* He said

further, " they [the English] offered the Scots, notwith-

' standing their victory, to leave the name of their nation,

' [England,] and to take the indifferent old name [common

' to both nations] of Britain again ; because nothing shall

' be left of the English part unoffered. That they intended

' not to disinherit their [the Scotchmen's] Queen, but to

' make her offspring heirs and inheritors to England. What

' meeter marriage, added he, could be for her, than to

' match with the King of England ? That they sought not

' to take from the Scots their laws nor customs, but to re-

' dress their oppressions. That if their Queen were mar-

' ried out of the realm, [viz. to the French, who indeed got
* her away,] the English title remained ; and they would be

' subjects to a foreign Prince, of another country and an-

' other lano;uao;e, and have the Eno'lish their enemies, even

' at their elbow, and their succours far from them. And

* if any foreign prince or power should be their aider, and

' send any army, how would they oppress them, fill their

' houses, waste their grounds, spend and consume their

' victuals, and hold them in subjection, and regard them

' but as slaves, and take their Queen to bestow as they list-

' ed; and at last leave their realm to be a prey to the

" English, and a true conquest .'*"
And lastly, an invitation was made to those of their na-

tion, " that favoured peace, and that profitable marriage, to

" enter and come into England, and to aid the English in

" this most godly purpose, and to be witness of their doings ;

" to whom they would keep promises heretofore declared,

OF KING EDWARD VI. 31

" and see further recompenced. And, which never yet be- CHAP.

" fore was granted to Scotland, in any league betwixt Eng- ^^^'

" land and Scotland, the King, considering the multitudes Anno 1547.

" of them which were come to his Majesty's devotion, had,

" by the Protector's advice and counsel, granted, that

" from henceforth all merchants and other Scotchmen, that

" would enter their names with one of the Lieutenants or

" Wardens of the Marches, or any of the King's officers

" having authority, and there profess to take part with

" England, might lawfully, and without any trouble or

" vexation, enter into any port or haven of England, and

" use their traffic of merchandise, either by land or by sea,

" and buy, sell, and bring in the commodities of Scotland ;

" and take and carry forth the commodities of England, as

" freely as Englishmen, and with no other customs or pay-

" ments than were due by Enghshmen." This excellent

epistle is preserved in Grafton's Chronicle, and taken thence Page 998.

by Holingshed into his, only leaving out a few words in

the conclusion, shewing the date, viz. " At London the 5th

" of February, in the second year of the reign of the most

" noble Prince and our Sovereign Lord Edward VI. by the

" grace of God of England, France, and Ireland, King,

" Defender of the Faith, and in yearth under Christ the

" supreme Head of the Church of England and Ireland."

The omission of which in the transcriber occasioned Ho-

lingshed's mistake in placing this letter under the year 1549-

It appears by Bale that this letter was wrote in Latin as

well as English ; that it might be, I suppose, the more uni-

versally read, and the justice of the quarrel, on the side of

England, might appear to other countries. The same au-

thor would make this letter to be of the Protector's own

composing. For he saith, his incomparable wisdom and

solid learning might be understood by his learned writings ;

whereof this he sets down for one, and another letter to the 20

nobility of Scotland he mentions for another, (though I am

apt to think in this Bale was mistaken, and that both this

and that was but one and the same,) besides some other dis-