The History of England - Vols. 1 to 6 (246 page)

This equity, so unusual in the parliament during that age, was ascribed by Northumberland and his partizans, not to any regard for liberty and justice, but to the PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

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prevalence of Somerset’s faction, in a house of commons, which, being chosen during the administration of that nobleman, had been almost entirely filled with his creatures.

They were confirmed in this opinion, when they found, that a bill, ratifying the attainder of Somerset and his accomplices, was also rejected by the commons, though it had passed the upper house.

A resolution was therefore taken to dissolve the parliament, 15th April.

which had sitten during this whole reign; and soon after to summon a new one.

Northumberland, in order to ensure to himself a house of

A new parliament.

commons entirely obsequious to his will, ventured on an

expedient, which could not have been practised, or even imagined, in an age, when there was any idea or comprehension of liberty. He engaged the king to write circular letters to all the sheriffs, in which he enjoined them to inform the freeholders, that they were required to choose men of knowledge and experience for their representatives. After this general exhortation, the king continued in these words:

“And yet, nevertheless, our pleasure is, that where our privy-council, or any of them shall, in our behalf, recommend, within their jurisdiction, men of learning and wisdom; in such cases, their directions shall be regarded and followed, as tending to the same end which we desire, that is, to have this assembly composed of the persons in our realm the best fitted to give advice and good counsel.”
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Several letters were sent from the king, recommending members to particular counties, Sir Richard Cotton to Hampshire; Sir William Fitzwilliams and Sir Henry Nevil to Berkshire; Sir William Drury and Sir Henry Benningfield to Suffolk, &c. But though some counties only received this species of
congé d’elire
from the king; the recommendations from the privy-council and the counsellors, we may fairly presume, would extend to the greater part, if not the whole, of the kingdom.

It is remarkable, that this attempt was made during the reign of a minor king, when the royal authority is usually weakest; that it was patiently submitted to; and that it gave so little umbrage as scarcely to be taken notice of by any historian. The painful and laborious collector above cited, who never omits the most trivial matter, is the only person, that has thought this memorable letter worthy of being transmitted to posterity.

The parliament answered Northumberland’s expectations. As 1553. 1st March.

Tonstal had in the interval been deprived of his bishopric in an arbitrary manner, by the sentence of lay commissioners, appointed to try him, the see of Durham was by act of parliament divided into two bishoprics, which had certain portions of the revenue assigned them. The regalities of the see, which included the jurisdiction of a count palatine, were given by the king to Northumberland; nor is it to be doubted but that nobleman had also purposed to make rich plunder of the revenue, as was then usual with the courtiers, whenever a bishopric became vacant.

The commons gave the ministry another mark of attachment, which was at that time the most sincere of any, the most cordial, and the most difficult to be obtained: They granted a supply of two subsidies and two fifteenths. To render this present the more acceptable, they voted a preamble, containing a long accusation of Somerset, “for PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

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involving the king in wars, wasting his treasure, engaging him in much debt, embasing the coin, and giving occasion for a most terrible rebellion.”
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The debts of the crown were at this time considerable. The king had received from France 400,000 crowns on delivering Boulogne; he had reaped profit from the sale of some chantry lands; the churches had been spoiled of all their plate and rich ornaments, which, by a decree of council, without any pretence of law or equity, had

been converted to the king’s use:h
Yet such had been the rapacity of the courtiers, that the crown owed about 300,000 pounds;
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and great dilapidations were, at the same time, made of the royal demesnes. The young prince showed among other virtues, a disposition to frugality, which, had he lived, would soon have retrieved these losses: But as his health was declining very fast, the present emptiness of the exchequer was a sensible obstacle to the execution of those projects, which the ambition of Northumberland had founded on the prospect of Edward’s approaching end.

That nobleman represented to the prince, whom youth and an Succession changed.

infirm state of health made susceptible of any impression, that his two sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, had both of them been declared illegitimate by act of parliament: And though Henry by his will had restored them to a place in the succession, the nation would never submit to see the throne of England filled by a bastard: That they were the king’s sisters by the half-blood only; and even if they were legitimate, could not enjoy the crown as his heirs and successors: That the queen of Scots stood excluded by the late king’s will; and being an alien, had lost by law all right of inheriting; not to mention, that, as she was betrothed to the dauphin, she would, by her succession, render England, as she had already done Scotland, a province to France: That the certain consequence of his sister Mary’s succession, or that of the queen of Scots, was the abolition of the protestant religion, and the repeal of the laws enacted in favour of the reformation, and the re-establishment of the usurpation and idolatry of the church of Rome: That fortunately for England, the same order of succession, which justice required, was also the most conformable to public interest; and there was not on any side any just ground for doubt or deliberation: That when these three princesses were excluded by such solid reasons, the succession devolved on the marchioness of Dorset, elder daughter of the French queen and the duke of Suffolk; That the next heir of the marchioness was the lady Jane Gray, a lady of the most amiable character, accomplished by the best education, both in literature and religion; and every way worthy of a crown: And that even, if her title by blood were doubtful, which there was no just reason to pretend, the king was possessed of the same power, that his father enjoyed; and might leave her the crown by letters patent.

These reasonings made impression on the young prince; and above all, his zealous attachment to the protestant religion made him apprehend the consequences, if so bigotted a catholic as his sister Mary should succeed to the throne. And though he bore a tender affection to the lady Elizabeth, who was liable to no such objection, means were found to persuade him, that he could not exclude the one sister, on account of illegitimacy, without giving also an exclusion to the other.

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Northumberland, finding that his arguments were likely to operate on the king, began to prepare the other parts of his scheme. Two sons of the duke of Suffolk by a second venter having died, this season, of the sweating sickness, that title was extinct; and Northumberland engaged the king to bestow it on the marquis of Dorset. By means of this favour and of others, which he conferred upon him, he persuaded the new duke of Suffolk and the dutchess, to give their daughter, the lady Jane, in marriage to his fourth son, the lord Guilford Dudley. In order to fortify himself by farther alliances, he negociated a marriage between the lady Catherine Gray, second daughter of Suffolk, and lord Herbert, eldest son of the earl of Pembroke. He also married his own daughter to lord Hastings, eldest son of the earl of Huntingdon.
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These marriages were solemnized with great pomp and festivity; and the people, who hated Northumberland, could not forbear expressing their indignation at seeing such public demonstrations of joy, during the languishing state of the young prince’s health.

Edward had been seized in the foregoing year, first with the measles, then with the small-pox; but having perfectly recovered from both these distempers, the nation entertained hopes, that they would only serve to confirm his health; and he had afterwards made a progress through some parts of the kingdom. It was suspected, that he had there overheated himself in exercise: He was seized with a cough

, which proved obstinate, and gave way neither to regimen nor The king’s sickness.

medicines: Several fatal symptoms of a consumption appeared; and though it was hoped, that, as the season advanced, his youth and temperance might get the better of the malady; men saw with great concern his bloom and vigour insensibly decay. The general attachment to the young prince, joined to the hatred borne the Dudleys, made it be remarked, that Edward had every moment declined in health, from the time that lord Robert Dudley had been put about him, in quality of gentleman of the bedchamber.

The languishing state of Edward’s health made Northumberland the more intent on the execution of his project. He removed all, except his own emissaries, from about the king: He himself attended him with the greatest assiduity: He pretended the most anxious concern for his health and welfare: And by all these artifices he prevailed on the young prince to give his final consent to the settlement projected. Sir Edward Montague, chief justice of the Common Pleas, Sir John Baker and Sir Thomas Bromley, two judges, with the attorney and solicitor-general, were summoned to the council; where, after the minutes of the intended deed were read to them, the king required them to draw them up in the form of letters patent. They hesitated to obey; and desired time to consider of it. The more they reflected, the greater danger they found in compliance. The settlement of the crown by Henry VIII. had been made in consequence of an act of parliament; and by another act, passed in the beginning of this reign, it was declared treason in any of the heirs, their aiders or abettors, to attempt on the right of another, or change the order of succession. The judges pleaded these reasons before the council. They urged, that such a patent as was intended would be intirely invalid; that it would subject, not only the judges who drew it, but every counsellor who signed it, to the pains of treason; and that the only proper expedient, both for giving sanction to the new settlement, and freeing its partizans from danger, was to summon a parliament, and to obtain the consent of that assembly.

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parliament, in which he purposed to have his settlement ratified; but in the mean time, he required the judges, on their allegiance, to draw the patent in the form required.

The council told the judges, that their refusal would subject all of them to the pains of treason. Northumberland gave to Montague the appellation of traitor; and said that he would in his shirt fight any man in so just a cause as that of lady Jane’s succession.

The judges were reduced to great difficulties between the dangers from the law, and those which arose from the violence of present power and authority.
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The arguments were canvassed in several different meetings between the council and the judges; and no solution could be found of the difficulties. At last, Montague proposed an expedient, which satisfied both his brethren and the counsellors. He desired, that a special commission should be passed by the king and council, requiring the judges to draw a patent for the new settlement of the crown; and that a pardon should immediately after be granted them for any offence, which they might have incurred by their compliance. When the patent was drawn and brought to the bishop of Ely, chancellor, in order to have the great seal affixed to it, this prelate required, that all the judges should previously sign it. Gosnald at first refused; and it was with much difficulty, that he was prevailed on, by the violent menaces of Northumberland, to comply; but the constancy of Sir James Hales, who, though a zealous protestant, preferred justice on this occasion to the prejudices of his party, could not be shaken by any expedient. The chancellor next required, for his greater security, that all the privy counsellors should set their hands to the patent: The intrigues of Northumberland or the fears of his violence were so prevalent, that the counsellors complied with this demand.

Cranmer alone hesitated during some time, but at last yielded to 21st June.

the earnest and pathetic entreaties of the king.
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Cecil, at that time secretary of state, pretended afterwards, that he only signed as witness to the king’s subscription. And thus, by the king’s letters patent, the two princesses, Mary and Elizabeth, were set aside; and the crown was settled on the heirs of the dutchess of Suffolk: For the dutchess herself was content to give place to her daughters.

After this settlement was made, with so many inauspicious circumstances, Edward visibly declined every day; and small hopes were entertained of his recovery. To make matters worse, his physicians were dismissed by Northumberland’s advice and by an order of council; and he was put into the hands of an ignorant woman, who undertook, in a little time, to restore him to his former state of health. After the use of her medicines, all the bad symptoms encreased to the most violent degree: He felt a difficulty of speech and breathing; his pulse failed, his legs swelled, his colour became livid;

and many other symptoms appeared of his approaching end. He And death. 6th July.

expired at Greenwich in the sixteenth year of his age, and the seventh of his reign.