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" minster, and was brought in his barge from thence to his " house in Southwark." As for his pedigree, he is said to be misbegotten ; and His P edi ' Godwin writes, as though he were base son to Woodvile, bishop of Salisbury, under King Edward IV. as he credibly received it from a relation of that Bishop : (and so I have seen it recorded in the Heralds' Office :) and that the said Bishop married his mother to Gardiner, one of the meanest of his followers ; and committed the child to some who were to take particular care of his education. It is sure, when Gardiner was abroad in embassies, he used to subscribe himself Stevens, or Stephens, as though he cared not for his surname; though yet it must not be denied that he wrote himself by his surname also sometimes. And I have seen his coat of arms in an old herald's scroll, together with other His arms, coats, painted, as I have reason to believe, when it was first given him, being then only Dr. Gardiner, and a dignitary. Which coat resembleth the bearing of the family of the Gardyners of Glemsford, near Ipswich in Suffolk; but with an abatement, viz. within a bordure engrailed, argent, a field azure, a chevron of the first charged with three sar- lands gules, between as many griffins 1 heads erased of the first. Yet I have seen a very good picture of him when bishop of Winchester, belonging to Sir Richard Gibbs, of Wheltham in Suffolk, knt. where his coat of arms varies, being within the garter, the see of Winton impaled with his VOL. III. g g 450 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL CHAP, own, which there is azure, a cross or, charged with a gar- land gules, between four griffins 1 heads erased argent, lan- Anno 1555. g U id of the third: which is the very coat of the Gardyners of Glemsford. But I suppose this was the error of the painter. Upon the frame is written, Vana salus Jwrnims ; His picture, which I take for his motto. This picture was drawn when he was of the age of fifty-three. He is represented with a square cap on his head, his complexion swarthy, a severe face, shaved close, his eyelids somewhat hanging over his eyes, stone rings upon both his forefingers, habited in a white garment close at the wrists, with a tippet over it. Ponet's There was one (namely, he that succeeded him in his bi-
of Politic cealing the Bishop's name under the periphrasis of the doc- tor of practices : " Albeit this Doctor be now, [under Queen " Mary,] but too late, thoroughly known, yet it shall be re- " quisite that our posterity know what he was, and by his " description see how nature hath shaped the outward " parts, to declare what was within. This Doctor hath a " swart colour, hanging look, frowning brows, eyes an inch " within his head, a nose hooked like a buzzard, nostrils like " a horse, ever snuffing into the wind, a sparrow mouth, " great paws like the Devil, talons on his feet like a gripe, " two inches longer than the natural toes, and so tied to 272 " with sinews, that he cannot abide to be touched, nor scarce " suffer them to touch the stones. And nature having: thus " shaped the form of an old monster, it gave him a venge- " able wit ; which at Cambridge, by labour and diligence, he " had made a great deal worse, and brought up many in " that faculty ; Wriothesly, Germain Gardiner, (whom he " caused speedily to be hanged, lest he should have too " much disclosed his master's art,) and among many others, " the master or proctor of practices, Paget. His study a This Doctor, to give some signification of his nature and and course . i 1 to prefer " cunning to come aloft, that he might do the more mischief, himself. a Detra y S n i s master Cardinal Wolsey ; and, more than any " other, labours the divorce between King Henry and the f* Dowager. And by and by he earnestly sought to have rid UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 451 " in the King's boots. Worse could not content him. But CHAP. " when he saw that would not be, and considered it better V ' " to have store than one only person, (for so perchance he Ann0 1555. " might have found them sometime not all clean, when he " should have used them ; and also it should be a let to " bring to pass that he purposed,) he change th his purpose, " and because none should remember his practices, nor sus- " pect the rest to come, he shaveth his crown as broad as a " saucer, &c. [and takes holy orders."]
affected the nation stood toward the match that he had the making of between the Queen and Philip, he ordered it so, that it should be given out, that the Lord Paget was the great doer of it. " He was excellent in the art of practices, " as it well appeared : for when he had wrought and made " sure the great marriage, to avoid the hatred of the people, " he made his scholar [Paget] to father it, and to have the " outward thank." The same writer shewed how obnoxious this Bishop was to the extremest capital punishment by rea- son of treason ; that is, in holding secret correspondence with the Pope. But he obliged liberally such as knew his doings, and might have accused him. For so he tells us: that he spent yearly the half of his bishopric in bribing, or else he had lost his head long before ; for the treasons were not altogether unknown, albeit they were covered and hid. A more particular account of this, and other things before generally spoken, we shall have in what follows. He was first bred at the University of Cambridge, being Where of Trinity hall there, and after taken into Cardinal Wolsey's re ' family, and was preferred to be his secretary ; and by him advanced to the King's service; as many others of that Cardinal's servants were. And being resolved to push on his own fortunes, he complied with the King in all his will and pleasure ; and particularly was a great instrument in King Henry's divorce from Queen Katharine, some years before Archbishop Cranmer was concerned in it. For in the latter end of the year 1527, he, with Edward Fox, doctor of the civil law, and provost of King's college in Cambridge, was
452 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL CHAP, sent in embassy to the Pope at Orviet, whence he had escaped out of imprisonment at Rome, after the sacking of it. Their Anno 1555. business was to procure from the Pope a larger commission ba^syTo tnan tnat which Dr. Knight, the King's secretary, a little the Pope, before had obtained. That which Knight had obtained was a dispensation passed by his holiness, and a commission for the Lord Legate of York to set upon the King's great 273 business : which dispensation and commission were brought to the King by Cambara, the Pope's prothonotary : Cambara then telling the King from the Pope, that if these were in any point thought insufficient, or any thing by learned men could be devised to be added thereunto, in order to the effectual determination of the matter, he would readily do it. thereof 60 * Gardiner and Fox having first waited upon the French King in their way, according to instructions, for his for- warding the King's business with the Pope, (from which King they obtained an earnest letter to the said Pope in King Henry's behalf, not without threatening,) they travelled from Paris to Orviet. They carried with them letters from the King and the Cardinal to the Pope. They carried also a book of the King's composing relating to this matter, (which the Pope read himself,) besides letters to other Car- dinals there, as Sanctorum Quatuor, de Ancona, et de Ra- venna. In fine, they obtained of the Pope the commission to two legates, the Cardinal of York and Campejus, to examine the King's great cause, which was framed accord- ing to the King's desire. The effect of all this negotiation, with the sum of the several meetings of the King's ambassa- dors with the Pope, and much of this intrigue, are contained in some letters from Gardiner, and the other ambassadors at the Pope's court, to the King and Cardinal ; which letters Vid. Me- are remaining among Fox's manuscripts. But hence we see mor. Henry, . . , VIII. now active this man was in the King's divorce, before Cran- mer came to the Court, or was heard of. But Cranmer had all the blame, and Gardiner had every thing not only for- given and forgotten, but not so much as laid to his charge. "omoUon. For before his death, viz. under Queen Mary, he was ad- UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 453 vanced to be of the order of the Garter, president of the CHAP. King and Queen's privy council, and lord high chancellor _____ of England. And he sent forth commissions by his own Anno 1555. authority, without any other of the privy counsellors, (as he did to the church of Wells,) and offered pardon where he thought fit; as he did to Latymer and others: which made doctor William Turner, in his book printed about New Book this time, use these words of him : " One is now dome up physick, " so high, that besides that he is a knight of the Garter, fo1 - 89 - " [or rather prelate of the Garter,] and a great lord, is also " high chancellor of England, and president of the Coun- " cil, and is above all the Lords, both temporal and spi- " ritual, of the whole Council. And so lordly behaveth " himself, that, without the knowledge of the rest of the " Council, he sendeth forth commissions, as he did of late to " Wells, by Dr. Edgeworth, and offereth pardon alone, as he " did to Mr. Latymer ; as though he were either King of " England, or else had the Queen and all the Council's " heads under his girdle." But to take some particular view of him under the reign Gardiner's of King Henry. Being secretary to Cardinal Wolsey at the time the French King was the Emperor's prisoner, the Car- dinal, and this his secretary, penned a league at the treaty at More in Hertfordshire, the Cardinal's house : which league was between the French King's mother, then Regent, and King Henry, for payment of great sums of money, owing to King Henry from France. Upon the penning this league, chiefly done by Gardiner, the King was so well pleased with it, that he took him into his service, and made him secretary to himself; which happened before the deposing of the Car- 0,74 dinal ; and when the bishopric of Winton fell void, he gave it him. Somewhat before which he was taken by the King into his Council ; and continued so for the most part of the King's life, especially in matters relating to France.
King to take arms against King Henry, because he had ex- 10 _ e ex _ pelled the Pope out of England, Gardiner was then am- [f lled
454 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL CHAP, procured the Cardinal to be turned out of France. And • that might give the ground that there was so little under- Anno 1555. standing between Pole and Gardiner afterwards, when they were both flourishing in England together in Queen Mary's days.
Effects a When Winchester came out of France, he was sent am- b'usin^ss bassador to the Emperor about certain articles in the between the j ea2>ue being: in debate. Dr. Thirlby and Dr. Carne were Kin 0, and Emperor, then ambassadors at that court, and joined in commission with him. These two could not bring the matter in debate to any effect ; but when Winton was sent and transacted it, an end was put to it. And when any thing was in contest and dispute about the French King, the Emperor, and King Henry, for leagues, our Bishop of Winchester was always called to make answer ; because he had the French tongue perfectly, and knew the affairs that were between them and us. Not suffered A little before the King's death, the ambassadors of bear the ° France came to the Court : then the Bishops of Winton and discourse Durham accompanied them, and brought them up to the between the King and King's attire chamber ; and they were brought in to the French am- j£ mg - where he lay, but the two Bishops were not suffered to bassadors. y •> ' r go in. No; because, I suppose, matters were then to be discoursed, which would not be to their mind ; namely, con- cerning making a reformation of religion, which both Kings, at that time, were resolved upon. These matters I collect from Bishop Tonstal's depositions at Gardiner's trial in King Edward's days. Who also then declared, that in King Henry's time he did allow all his statutes, articles, injunc- tions, proclamations, as were then decreed ; and did set forth the same accordingly : and made a book against the usurped power of the Bishop of Rome; which was that entitled, Concerning- true obedience. The Coun- Winchester did much value himself, because he was so himVot? 6 °f tcn ca Ued for by the Council upon French matters; and imagined it was done out of great deference to his judgment and wisdom. But although the King's counsellors did some- times make use of him for the tongue's sake, when others UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 455 were absent, yet they did not best like his doings in matters CHAP, of religion : which the King himself did once disclose to _!____ him at Greenwich. Anno 155 °- More than three weeks before the King died, being very T ( ie Kin » sick, he made his will ; sending for divers of his Council, viz. have him in the Earl of Warwick, the Earl of Hertford, the Lord his wilL Privy Seal, the Master of the Horse, and Sir William Paget, secretary, to consult with them about it. And when some- body had named the Bishop of Winchester to be one of his executors, the King put him out, and would not have him in any wise named in his will. And at that time he gave them strict charge and commandment, that he should never be of his son's Council. " For he is so wilful and contentious,' 1 '' 2^5 said the King, u that you shall never be quiet, if he be among " you ;" with such like words. This was part of the Earl of Warwick's evidence before the commissioners at Winches- ter's trial. Whether it were Winchester's rigid temper, or his mis- Kin » carriages in the management of the affairs the King em- c hid Gardi- ployed him in, he was often severely checked by the King. ner - But yet such was his compliance with the King in all things, that he maintained his ground almost to the King's dying day ; though the King loved him not, yet esteeming him a man fit for his service. The Earl of Wiltshire and he, being then secretary, were once sent abroad ambassadors together, and at their return the King did dislike somewhat of their managery of his business, and most severely fell upon Gar- diner in the Earl's presence. Whereat Gardiner being some- what dismayed, the King took him apart in his bed-cham- ber, and comforted him, and said his displeasure was not so much to him, as he took it : but that he durst more boldly direct his speech to him, than to the Earl. And from that day forward, Gardiner (according to his own relation in one of his letters) was never put out of courage ; but if any displeasant words passed from the King, he folded them ^JjfilJd in the matter, (I use his own expression). This the King p 10 tector. did not like; for he would have such as he chid, to shew great sorrow and subjection. Gardiner was reported unto
456
MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL
CHAP.
XXXV. Anno 1555 The King's saying,
when he gave him the bishop- ric.
Bishop thought of the King's angry let- ters.
Gardiner, while am- bassador, holds cor- respond- ence with the Pope. 276
him not to have stooped, and that he was stubborn. The King upon this would commend unto him the gentle re- lenting nature of some other gentlemen, that wept at every one of his words. When the King gave him the bishopric of Winchester, he told him, he had often squared with him, but he loved him never the worse. And for a token thereof gave him the bishopric.
letters, (which the King used to call whetting,) which some that were privy to them reckoned a sign of the great danger the Bishop was in : yet the Bishop (if you will believe him- self) feared nothing at all. For he esteemed him a wise Prince, and whatsoever he wrote or said for the present, he would after consider the matter as wisely as any man ; and nothing hurt, nor inwardly disfavour him, that had been bold with him.
whither King Henry sent Bishop Gardiner and Sir Henry Knevit, his joint ambassadors : where also was Contarini, a legate from the Pope. This legate brought letters from the Pope to Winchester ; and going away suddenly, desired an Italian merchant, named Lodovico, to go to Winchester, and to hasten his answer to the Pope's pacquet ; for that the carrier was ready to depart in a day or two. This Lodovico soon after meeting one Wolf, steward to Sir H. Knevit, prayed him that he would tell the English ambassador what the legate desired. Wolf told him, there were two ambassa- dors, and asked him, " which ? M He said, he " knew not that. 1 '' But he said, it was a bishop, whom he styled rcverendissimo. This Wolf discovered to Mr. Chaloner, Sir Henry Knevit's secretary. And him Wolf carried to Lodovico, that there might be another witness besides himself; and then pumped him so in Chaloner's company, that he again spake of it. This whole matter was fully related by these two persons to Knevit. And he sent secret notice of it to the King. The King thought fit, at that time, to put it up ; and sent word to Knevit and the Bishop, (who had words together about this,) that they should both unite and mind his business. UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 457 But it seems Lodovico went the next day unto the Bishop; CHAP. i • WW and he, by sifting the business, found out that Lodovico had mentioned it to the servants of the other ambassador. Anno 1555. So he sent for Sir Henry, and made to him a great excla- mation against poor Lodovico ; saying, that he had poison in his dish, and a knave was suborned to be his destruction. He told Knevit also, that he had caused the Emperor's minister Granvela to lay up Lodovico in prison, and exa- mine him. Knevit would have had him before them both, under examination : but the Bishop would not ; saying, " he had referred it to Gramma," [who was a great friend to the Pope,] Wolf, the first discoverer, who had been long sick of a cough of the lungs, and died within two weeks after, on his deathbed took the mass, (and that before Knevit,) avowing that what he had before reported of the Bishop was true : and it was writ down in Wolfs will ; to which he set his hand. This is the effect of the evidence of the Lord Paget, when he was produced a witness against the Bishop in King Edward's time. He was little loved in King Henry's reign. For even Ballads players and minstrels railed on him ; and others made bal- ™* u _ e upon lads and prints of him : of which he took notice and com- plained in one of his letters. He was once appointed to victual the King's navy. Then he procured Wednesday to be observed by abstinence from flesh ; which was therefore called, the bishop's fasting day. And hence proceeded one of the rhymes made upon him, with this burden, Winchester, Winchester, grand mercy for your wine, beshrew your heart for your xvater. When the last book of religion was by the King's order Left out in composed, and a commission was issued out to certain of tnt \* ^'f,™'^. Bishops and learned men, the King left Gardiner out of that ligion. commission, as the Lord P"get, the King's secretary, testified at the great trial of that Bishop under King Edward. The reason whereof was, he said, because the King thought him wilful in religion, and much bent to the Popish part.
labour was used with this Bishop, to bring him into a com- J^htbe re . formation. 458 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL CHAP, pliance with the government and the reformation intended:
Anno i555. counse ]] or5 muc h employed in embassies and affairs of state. And they trained him along a good way. He took the oath of supremacy to King Edward. He declared his ap- probation of the taking away of ceremonies and images abused. He agreed that monasteries and religious houses were justly dissolved. When by King Edward's injunctions images were taken away, he exhorted the people in his ser- mons to be contented therewith. He referred it to the ar- bitrement of politic rulers, the taking away, or transposing of chantries, obits, &c. He liked well the communion book set out by King Edward. The Book of Common Prayer he was content to keep himself, and to cause it to be kept by others. He yielded and granted to all the injunc- 277 ti° ns > statutes, and proclamations, put out by the King and superior powers. This was the sum of the articles brought to him to subscribe from the Privy Council : which he did, but I doubt whether with his free consent ; having been subscribed by him after he had lain for some space of time Yüklə 12,09 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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