Henry VIII: November 1533, 21-25 | British History Online

Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6, 1533. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1882.

Citation:

'Henry VIII: November 1533, 21-25', in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6, 1533, ed. James Gairdner( London, 1882), British History Online https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol6/pp578-591 [accessed 5 November 2024].

November 1533, 21-25



21 Nov. Simancas MS.	1446. Katharine Of Arragon to Charles V. Your Majesty's ambassador has sent me the articles shown to you by the Pope's nuncio, concerning the King's affair and mine, and also his own letter on the same subject. I do not wish the cause to be heard except before the Pope, and in no place except Rome. Nothing is intended but delay, from which I have already suffered. If this woman whom the King keeps with him is pregnant of a son, they will be encouraged in their obstinacy, being now as good as married. If you knew as well as I the evil done by the talk at Bologna about the place where the cause should be determined and the Legates, you would have answered without waiting for my reply, unless you acted thus to please the Pope. The carelessness shown at Bologna has brought the matter to this pass. Your Majesty must not think I do not feel what you write, and the good which would happen if the King would resume his obedience to the Pope, but these practices will encourage him not to do so. The only remedy is to finish the case, and I beg you to urge the Pope to give a definitive sentence, which I hope will enlighten the King, and stop the tongues which have brought him to this state, when they see themselves without any hope. They say they think little of what the Pope has done and can do. Begs again for the Emperor's help, instancing the evils to Christendom and the growth of Lutheranism, which result from delay. Would neither ask him for help, nor the Pope for justice, if it were not for the offence to God, the discharge of her conscience, and the danger of the souls of her household. 21 Nov. Endd. : "De la reyna de Ynglaterra, 21 de Noviembre 1533, 8 de Hebrero de 34. Respondidas de Toledo a de Abril." Sp., modern copy, pp. 4.
21 Nov.	1447. The Papal Sentence. "Exemplar sive transscriptum aut copia literarum apostolicarum S.D.N. Clementis Pap VII. sub plumbo expeditarum, executoralium sententi per Sanctitatem suam nuper in favorem serenissima Domin Catherin Angli Regin, contra illustrissimum principem dominum Henricum VIII. Angli Regem, ac quandam Annam dictam de Boland, nominatim et in specie lat, cum insinuatione seu notificatione illarum, et in eis contentorum, eisdem Regi, Ann, et certis aliis in illis contentis et comprehensis, per dictum facta." (fn. 1) The bull is dated Rome 1533, 6 id. Aug., 10 pont. The notification was by John Maquet de Binchio, notary, of the Emperor's Council of Brabant, on Wednesday, 19 Nov. 1533, at the church of St. Eligius, Dunkirk, on the doors of which an abstract of the sentence was nailed. On Friday, Nov. 21, at St. Mary's church, Bruges. Lat. No date of printing.
Le Glay, Analectes Hist., p. 198.	2. "Procs-verbaux de deux publications faites Dunkerque, de la bulle du Pape Clment VII., contenant la sentence rendue contre le roi d'Angleterre Henri VIII., au sujet de son divorce avec Catherine d'Aragon et son mariage avec Anne de Boleyn. La bulle Rome, le 13 Aout 1533. Sa publication Dunkerque, le 19 Novembre 1533."
21 Nov. R. O.	1448. S. Vaughan to Cromwell. Two days past I received a letter from you containing a licence from the King for me to come home. I shall leave here in eight days. Sir Marshal wrote me a letter that I should buy for you half a dozen chronicles lately translated out of Almain into Latin. I can find none such. I know the books you would have. Christopher (Mont) began in your house to translate them. Four days past I sent, in company of Martin Caley, Henry Ellington, some time servant to Abraam. He came here out of Scotland with letters from Jas. Griffith Appowell to the queen of Hungary. These letters, with other of his writings, I sent in my letters enclosed to you. Antwerp, 21 Nov. Hol., p. 1. Add. : Right worshipful.
21 Nov. R. O.	1449. Ric. Kyrton to Lady Lisle. Thanks her for the kindness shown him by her and lord Lisle. Mr. Marvyn gives him words of comfort touching lord Lisle's causes of Chedder, saying that lord Lisle will make a feoffment and letter of attorney to take possession. If "he" trouble any of the tenants, he shall have an injunction to bring it before my Lord Chancellor. Is in doubt about her letters to Mr. Hollte, who says he has no store of cloth. The "plattes" for the town are sent home by the carrier, "and for the gilting, they must dyscrye all the arms by the reason of colours." They ask 5l. for the doing of it, and George Rollys has laid out 33s. 4d. till Candlemas, which Burye then must pay him. Wm. Leke sends three yards, costing 2s. 6d., for the hosen for which she wrote. Not knowing the size, has sent the cloth. London, 21 Nov. Hol., p. 1. Add.
21 Nov. R. O.	1450. Anthony Cotton to Cromwell. I have been to you, but could not find you at leisure, for money due to me for six acres of my land held by John Laurens, taken by the King. There is another acre of land in the said park belonging to me, as appears by a deed dated 4 Edw. III. Harfford Castle, 21 Nov. Signed. P. 1. Add. : Of the Council.
21 Nov. R. O.	1451. Edw. Lee, Archbishop of York, to Cromwell. I have today received your kind letter dated 8 Nov. I shall be glad to come to a reasonable and charitable communication in the controversy between the Archdeacon and me, as the King wishes. Wrote yesterday to the King, to you, and others, insinuating the same desire, and to my cousin Baynton to move the King that the matter may be indifferently heard. Wrote also to the archbp. of Canterbury, who has moved the Archdeacon, and now writes that he partly inclines to my purpose. I have accordingly written to him to perform the rest. No man will be gladder than I, for I seek nothing but discharge of my conscience and the reformation of the clergy of my province. How much it stands to my charge to do so, you will perceive by the enclosed notes drawn out of old writers upon the law. If the archbp. of Canterbury cannot perform what he has begun, I shall ask you and the Chancellor to make an end thereof, calling in our counsels learned in the spiritual law. If it come thereto I trust you will perceive that neither custom nor composition can exclude me from examining all clerks by me "ordered," notwithstanding the Archdeacon's examination. Yesterday I prayed you, and now I pray you again, that the injunction may be discharged. I do not yet know the King's pleasure for the prebend of Northmuschame, which I reserve for his clerk. I pray you that now I may have respite to look after my poor chaplains. The King will be from time to time called on, but your goodness may stop all. Cawod, 21 Nov. 1533. Hol., p. 1. Add.
R. O.	2. Extracts from the canonists, touching the respective rights of the bishop and archdeacon in matters of ordination. Inc. : "Ad hanc questionem, In quibus sollicitudo episcopalis debet relevari per Archidiaconum, respondet Papa, Ad Archidiaconum etiam pertinet examinatio clericorum si fuerint ad ordines promovendi, &c." This passage is specially noted in the margin : "Est generaliter observatum ut ad eum examinatio person pertineat ad quem impositio manus spectat." Lat., pp. 5. Add. in the hand of Lee's clerk : "To the Rt. Honorable my special good friend Mr. Cromwell, one of the King's most honble. Council."
R. O.	1452. W. K[nighte] to Cromwell. Great suit is made to my Lord Chancellor for dissolving the injunction sent to my lord of York. Yesternight he said that he granted it at your desire, and would this day show you a reason why it should be dissolved. It was devised for the quietness of the King's subjects. Lord Conyers and other gentlemen would have put up a supplication to the King, which I send you. The injunction required him to use himself quietly towards my jurisdiction, as his predecessors had done ; but he is now seeking for a dissolution in order to continue his tyranny, and writes many letters to honorable men. I should be glad to have some recompense for my archdeaconry, though it were to my loss. Hol., p. 1. Add. : Of the Council.
22 Nov. Vienna Archives.	1453. Katharine Of Arragon to Chapuys. Has received his letter by the lawyer, and the others which accompanied it. They have caused her great pain by renewing what she had passed through, seeing that she and her daughter are so miserable that they cannot have the justice which is denied to no one. Does not ask his Holiness (qu. Majesty?) (fn. 2) for war, and would rather die than be the cause of it. Asks only for true justice, having appealed to the Vicar of Christ for six years. The long delay has caused her the great evils which are manifest towards all the world. Now that she is almost at the end, if the definitive sentence is given, she is to begin (tengo de empear) with an agreement (partido) proposed to her two years ago by the King and his Council. Being moved by her conscience, refused it, feeling sure that it was a trick to prolong the negotiation, and to overcome her by power which she could not resist. Since then great troubles have followed. Cannot keep back her tears when writing, to think of her innocence and her separation from the King, who left her at Windsor (Unisor) without her knowing the reason, and has since married, without any divorce except what he has arranged and ordered (sino el que apunto y como el lo mando) while her case is before the Pope. Desires him to write to the Emperor to order his ambassadors to solicit a definitive sentence to be pronounced as soon as possible. There is no other remedy, and this will save many souls which are now in danger. The practice at Bologna was of no use, as it clearly encouraged them here to proceed with this marriage (deste bueno de casamiento). Expects that she and her daughter will be martyred at the next Parliament. Thanks for his trouble. Hugdon (Bugden), 22 Nov. Asks him to send on the letters as soon as possible, that so great an offence to God may be averted, and because she has more fear of His chastisement than of any troubles in this world, and to tell the Imperial agents at Rome to press the case without waiting for the Emperor's answer (de su seor), as it is her determined will, and the Emperor orders it. Desires him to write to the Comendador Mayor of Leon, and to Granvela, to thank them for their trouble, to ask for further aid, and excuse her for not writing. Sp. From a modern copy, headed inaccurately 1532.
22 Nov. Cleopatra, E. VI. 234. B. M. C.'s Letters, 268. Strype's Cranmer, 31. Burnet, VI. 68.	1454. Cranmer to [Bonner]. You know I stand in dread lest the Pope make some process against me and my church. I have, therefore, by advice of the King and his Council, appealed to the General Council, and send herewith my appeal and procuracy under my seal. You will take advice with my lord of Winchester how to intimate the said provocation. Lambeth, 27 Nov. Signed.
22 Nov. R. O. St. P. IV. 664.	1455. James V. to Henry VIII. Desires credence for Mr. Adam Otti[rburn, of Auld]hame, whom he sends as one who has always been a promoter of peace between the two realms. Couper, 22 Nov. 21 Jas. V. Signed. Add.
22 Nov. R. O.	1456. Sir Will. Parre to Cromwell. I am credibly informed that I am appointed this year to be sheriff of Northamptonshire. You know the great debt I am in to my lord of Richmond, and my great charges, so that the office will be my undoing. As Sir Thos. Griffyn, who can spend yearly 600 marks, is desirous of it, I might be discharged, and he appointed. But if you desire that I should continue still sheriff, I shall follow the King's pleasure. As Sir Francis Brian, when sheriff of Buckinghamshire, held the office also of custos rotulorum, I beg I may also have the same or appoint my deputy for this year, as I should be sorry to lose it. I perceive that this year the "tayles" shall be clearly struck out, and if I shall continue sheriff I shall thereby lose 100l. Please remember the signing of my nephew's bill. I shall be at London shortly after Christmas. Horton, 22 Nov. Signed. Pp. 2. Add. : Of the King's Council. Sealed.
22 Nov. R. O.	1457. Dartmoor Forest. Lease by Sir John Daunce and John Hales, surveyors of Crown lands, to Thomas Crumwell, chancellor of the Exchequer, John Roo, serjeant-at-law, John Uvedale, secretary to the Queen, Humph. Bonevyle, John Rastall, Martin Pirry, John Braban, John Wheddon, John Bobiche, and Rob. Cowper, of all the lead mines in Dartmore forest, Devonshire, for 21 years, at a rent of a tenth part of the metal found. 22 Nov. 25 Hen. VIII. Signed by Daunce and Hales. On parchment, mutilated.
23 Nov. R. O.	1458. William Elys to Cromwell. I received your letter on St. Clement's Day by your servant Thos. Borell, desiring me to surrender my patent of office. I sent you a letter by Will. Bygott on that subject before the feast of St. Simon and Jude, and he has since written to me that he could not find you at leisure. Till I know your pleasure I can make no further answer, begging I may not lose my name for a year or two. I and my wife were coming to London 14 days before All Saints. Attylbrygge, St. Clement's Day. Signed. P. 1. Add. : Right worshipful. Endd. : Baron Ellys.
23 Nov. R. O.	1459. Lord Lisle to [Cromwell]. The creditors of the late lord Berners have shown us that he, in his lifetime, made an assignment to them of a portion of his wages in satisfaction of his claims. Such assignments have always been held good to every assignee at the King's payment, but payment has hitherto been deferred, and the creditors desire us to urge you for a commandment to the vice-treasurer, Mr. Hastings. The bearer will give you particulars. It has always been the custom in this town, used by many of the garrison, to make such assignments, which is considered one of the greatest aids and reliefs to the King's servants. Calais, 23 Nov. Signed. Pp. 2. Endd. : John Tollemelle, of Sangate, payes lycense for iiij. last.
24 Nov. Vienna Archives.	1460. Chapuys to Charles V. Besides the letter which the Queen wrote to you, she has expressly begged me to supplicate you that, omitting all other devices, you would procure a brief decision of the principal business ; and if this be done, the King will listen to reason and return to the right way, notwithstanding the bravado and obstinacy which he has hitherto shown, and that for this no war will be required. As to this last point, however great the credit of the Queen may be in England, I do not think there is any one who would pledge himself for it, considering the great obstinacy and blindness of the King, which increases every day, although every one believes that if you forbade intercourse with Flanders they would be exposed to the worst war they ever had, and the King would be compelled to submit. Their only comfort is that the King persuades the people that it is not in the power of your Majesty to do so. The personage who was sent was not sent in hope that he could do any good in persuading the King to take back the Queen or obey the sentence ; for, as Norfolk had told me, if the Pope and you, and the king of France, and all the princes of Christendom were assembled, they could not convert the King ; but it might serve as a justification before God and the world, and this people especially, who are much inclined to you, and the comfort of the Queen and her party, which is nearly the whole kingdom. Thinking yesterday to go to Court according to orders, the King sent to excuse himself, from the multitude of his affairs, and that he would send for me on the first opportunity. I think this has been occasioned by the late news from Marseilles, and not from the King's affairs, although he and his Council have been very busy, chiefly from their distrust of the king of France. The old French ambassador was requested by the King to travel post. Yesterday the Nun was placed upon a high scaffold before the cathedral of this city, where she, two good and religious Observants, two (fn. 3), two secular priests, and a respectable layman, (fn. 4) waited all the time of the sermon ; and for their vituperation, the preacher, who was a monk lately made bishop in order to support the Lady's party, (fn. 5) repeated all that the Chancellor had said against them, further affirming that the Nun, by her feigned superstition, had prevented the cardinal of York from proceeding to give sentence for the divorce, as he had resolved ; and this had been one of the great calamities of this kingdom, as much for the present as for the future. To her other accomplices who were there the preacher imputed levity and superstition for sticking to such things, and disloyalty for not revealing them. He attributed to the two Observants especially, that, under the shadow of the said superstition, they had suborned and seduced their companions to maintain the false opinion and wicked quarrel of the Queen against the King. And as the principal matter of his harangue, he confined the rest of his discourse to a justification of the King's quarrel, impugning the first marriage, exhorting the people with great vehemence never to listen to the contrary. It is said, on the two next Sundays the Nun and the abovementioned persons will play the same part, and that afterwards they will be taken through all the towns in the kingdom to make a similar representation, in order to efface the general impression of the Nun's sanctity, because this people is peculiarly credulous, and is easily moved to insurrection by prophecies, and in its present disposition is glad to hear any to the King's disadvantage. The King has not yet prevailed on the judges to make the oration against those who have practised against [him with] the said Nun in the form that I last wrote. He is going to have the affair discussed with them on Friday ; and although some of the principal judges would sooner die than make the said declaration, yet, when the King comes to dispute, there is no one who will dare contradict him unless he wishes to be reputed stupid or disloyal (sil ne veult avoir de la beste ou du desloyal par la teste). So that it seems as if he had made a total divorce not only from his wife, but from good conscience, humanity, and gentleness, which he used to have. The King has lately sent for those who have charge of his ships, and ordered them to get all the vessels ready. This I know from one of those who have received instructions in it, who has also told me that the duke of Norfolk had sent orders into various places to make blockhouses and fortresses in defence against sudden invasions. This shows they are beginning to be afraid. By your Majesty's command, I wrote last time to the count of Cifuentes, and so I do now in full, of the wish of the Queen. There is no other news except that the duke of Richmond is to be married tomorrow to the duke of Norfolk's daughter. London, 24 Nov. 1533. Fr., hol., pp. 4. From a modern copy.
24 Nov. R. O.	1461. James Hobson, Customer, to Lord Lisle. Has his letter, stating that there is a great lack of wood in Calais, and that ladings of wood had been discharged at Dunkirk. Has strict commands that none shall discharge, except at Calais, without sufficient bonds. Sends a list of those, 25 in all, who have taken cargoes at Winchelsea and Rye from Michaelmas last to the 24th Nov. inst. Many have laden wood for Calais in Lisle's name, which never came there. Hol., p. 1. Add. : Deputy of Calais.
25 Nov. R. O.	1462. Harry Huttoft to Lord Lisle. Wrote lately to him of his ship. Has no further news of her, except that she has been laden at Candy. Begs him to favor William Knyght, the bearer, who was late married in London, and became surety for one Calverley, and fled to Calais. He is a good craftsman. Hol., p. 1. Add. Headed : London, 25 Nov. 1533.
25 Nov. R. O.	1463. Sir Will. Parre to Cromwell. I perceive by your letter, directed to the bearer, Will. Kente, that he is complained of to the Council, I suppose by the malicious mind of one Thos. Mallorie, lieutenant of the forest of Whittilwood. I beg you will be good master to him for his upright conduct, as I believe he will clear himself of all matters alleged against him, and Mallorie will prove himself to be a person of light and remiss living. Horton, 25 Nov. Signed. Hol., p. 1. Add. : Of the Council.
[25 Nov.] Cleop. E. IV. 82. B. M.	1464. [The Marchioness Of Exeter (?) to Henry VIII.] Has received his gracious letter, dated Greenwich, 25th November 25 Hen. VIII., concerning her abuse, lightness, and indiscreet offences committed in frequenting the conversation and company of that most unworthy, subtle, and deceivable woman called the Holy Maid of Kent, and in giving too much credence to the malicious and detestable proceedings of her and her adherents, which are now manifest to all the world to have been abominably compassed by sedition and malice against the King ; and also containing his gracious remission of her offences. Reminds the King that she is a woman, whose fragility and brittleness is easily seduced and brought to abusion and light belief. Is now the most sorrowful and heavy creature alive, that she has been so unfortunate as to offend the King and his laws, or be in danger of his indignation or displeasure. Cannot excuse her offences in listening to the seditious tales, blasphemies, and execrable and false prophecies set forth by the said most unworthy person and her adherents. Her lightness proceeded rather from not revealing them than from any credence she gave to the false revelations. Thought them so full of folly and untruth as to be unworthy to be revealed or believed. Protests that she never acted from any "male opinion," malice, or grudge against the King, the Queen, or their posterity. Begs the King to require her husband, who is much displeased, to forgive her. Thanks the King for his goodness, and expresses her obligations to him. Pp. 3. Draft, with corrections in Cromwell's hand.
R. O.	1465. Gertrude Marchioness Of Exeter to Cromwell. I have this day received by my fellow Avery a letter from the King and a pardon, which is much to my comfort. I received no comfort but this since my sickness, and that was caused by my conceit that the King had been heavy lord to me. I will receive my Maker that I never offended him even in thought ; but if I have offended though simplicity and lack of knowledge, I submit myself, accepting his gracious pardon. I write to you as my Lord's very friend, that if the King speak of this matter you will answer for me that he has no more obedient subject ; trusting he will remember that it is much less marvel that I, being a woman, shall be thus deluded by such pestilent hypocrites, seeing so many wise persons have been equally abused. Horsley, Wednesday. Signed. P. 1. Add. : To Mr. Cromwell.
Cleop. E. IV. 75. B. M. Wright's Suppression of the Monasteries, 14.	1466. [ to Cromwell.] According to your commandment I have put the articles of communication between me and Mr. Ryche (fn. 6) in writing, and, as he says, you have them in writing before. As I heard things worthy to be noted, I wrote them on the margin of my book in Dutch and French that he might not understand my purpose ; but I did not believe such tales, which he calls revelations, for I have learned the gospel, "Attendite a falsis prophetis." If I had remembered as well another commandment, "Non concupisces rem proximi tui," with the saying of Cato, "Cum bonis ambula," I should not have fallen into this misery. I remember 30 or 31 of those tales, which cannot be set forth in writing, so that their intent should be known, and I suppose 20 sheets of paper will not write them at length. I have therefore written the name of the story, so that, if it be as he says, the whole story will be in your remembrance. 1. Of an angel who bade the Nun go to the King, that infidel prince of England, and command him to amend his life, to take none of the Pope's right, to destroy these new folks of opinion and the works of their new learning ; and that if he married Anne, the vengeance of God should plague him. She saith she showed this to the King. 2. Two or three months after, the angel bade her go again to the King, and say that, since her last being with him, he had more highly studied to bring his purpose to pass ; and that she saw in spirit the King, the Queen, and the earl of Wiltshire in a garden devising how to bring the matter to pass, and by no means it would not be. At last a little devil stood beside the Queen, and put it into her mind to propose sending her father to the Emperor with money to have his good will. The angel told her to show the King this tale and privy token, and bid him take his old wife again, or else, &c. "It is so naughty a matter that my hand shaketh to write it, and something better unwritten than written." 3. That when the King was at Calais, she saw the host taken from the priest with the blessed blood, and angels brought it to her to receive, &c. 4. She was charged to go to the Cardinal when he was in his prosperity, and tell him of three swords that he had in his hand,one of the spiritualty, one of the temporalty, and the third of the King's marriage,a long matter. The bishop of Canterbury and Bocking to be remembered. 5. At another time the angel commanded her to go to the Cardinal and show him of his fall, and that he had not done as she commanded him by the will of God. 6. Since he died she saw the disputation of the devils for his soul. She was three times lift up, and could not see him, either in heaven, hell, or purgatory, where she saw him at last, and that he was brought into heaven by her penance, and what souls she saw fly through purgatory. 7. The angel warned her to tell a certain abbot to take three of his brethren by name, for they were purposed to have run away with three men's wives. 8. Of another that had beaten himself so with rods that his stamell was bloody, which he thought to have buried in the garden ; and she, by command of the angel, met him, &c.,a high matter for penance. 9. Of two other monks who had taken shipping to go to Tyndale, but by her prayer the ship had no power to leave the haven. 10. The angel commanded her to tell a monk to burn an English New Testament which he had. 11. The warning that the angel gave her of a woman who came to St. Thomas of Canterbury. 12. The angel told her that the embassy of the Pope was at Canterbury, and how she sent by him the message of God to the Pope, that he should be scourged of God for two causes. 13. That she spoke by the commandment of God at London with another, and bade him write the message of God to the Pope, to which she set her hand. 14. How the old bishop of Canterbury promised to marry the King, and of the warning by the angel of God. 15. That she showed Dr. Bokyng the hour of his death ; and since, she heard the disputation of angels and devils for his soul. 16. She saw him when he went unto heaven, with the words that he spoke, and how St. Thomas was there present, and accompanied him. 17. Of the going and return of the earl of Wiltshire to Spain, with the receiving of the King's letters there, and the answer of the Emperor. 18. Her vision that if the King should have married at Calais, the Queen should have had great shame. 19. Of the persons whom the angel has appointed to be at her death, when she shall receive the crown of martyrdom, and the time and place. 20. Of the devils appearing to her. 21. Of a vision which Gold's (fn. 7) wife had on St. Catherine's Day. 22. How, at Corteup streyte, when Mr. Gold (fn. 8) went to mass, the other Gold's wife asked her to pray to know the state of the Princess Dowager, of two other women, and of two friars, Riche (fn. 9) and Risby. (fn. 10) As soon as the priest began Confiteor she fell in a trance, and of her wonderful answer. 23. Of a gentleman dwelling near Canterbury, who had long been tempted to drown himself by the sprite of a woman whom he had kept in his wife's days, who is damned. 24. Of the visions seen by her sister, and how she took the blood of our Lord's side in a chalice, and how she saw the plague for the city of London. 25. Of the words the Nun spake to Mr. Richards. (fn. 11) How the angel asked for his faith, with certain privy tokens that she showed him that he had in his memento, with divers other things in your house, which causeth them all to muse, &c. 26. How the angel commanded her to say that all are but illusions, for the time is not come that God will put forth the work. 27. Of 9. 9. 9. the reign of the King, how long he shall reign, as saith a prophesy, which agrees with her saying. 28. Of three letters, A. F. G. by a prophesy in the hands of Holy Richard. If you send to me John Gooddolphyn, your servant, I can cause him to find him by enquiry at the Temple. 29. Of a golden letter that Mary Magdalen sent, and how the angel commanded her to counterfeit another, because the people should have power upon her body, &c. with money that was hid, &c. 30. Six days before Riche was taken, he went to a man that hath a prophecy, and with him Nesywycke the Observant, who showed them wondrous things, pens and inkhorns, letters of prophesy, and of all their trouble at Powlys crosse. This man dwells two miles from Bugdeane. His name is Handford. Hol., pp. 7.
Harl. 283, f. 106. B. M.	2. Modern copy.
Cleop. E. VI. 159. B. M.	1467. to [Cromwell]. "The phrase of Master More's letter I have utterly, as knoweth God, forgotten, for I read it only superficially." Perceived no hurt therein. Desired Golde and the woman to keep it safe for More's discharge. Conjectured that More, after he left Syon, had heard something concerning her being with the King, and her revelation touching this laudable marriage, which moved him to write that letter. In the said letter he thanked her for her familiar communication, desiring her to be a testimonial that he never moved anything pertaining to the Prince when he was with her. He desired her no otherwise to disdain his counsel than Moses, who had all the revelations, did the counsel of Jethro. His counsel was not to show her revelations to every one, but to the spiritual and godly persons ; not to worldly men, "who receive (as the other hony and weeke) poyson of every thynge." He referred to the duke of Buckingham, who had much displeasure by resorting to a monk of Hynton. Does not remember why he mentioned this. At the end of his letter he desired to be numbered as one most desirous of her prayers ; and such pleasure as he might do, it should always be ready. This is all he can remember. Begs [Cromwell] ("your mastership") to use him mercifully in all other things which he has deserved by the folly of foolish and rash youth. Trusts he has not so swerved, but [Cromwell] being favorable, he may make compensation. Without his favor, counts himself utterly cast away. "For Christ's sake pluck me from the rock to the land. Suffer me not with a fresh flood utterly to perish. I cannot but amend when all is done." Hol., pp. 2.
R. O.	1468. Elizabeth Barton. The Nun has confessed that she showed the revelation concerning the King's reign, that he shall not be king a month after he married the Queen's grace, to Dr. Bocking, her ghostly father, the bishop of Rochester, Dr. Adsone, his chaplain, Master Hen. Goolde, Mr. Thwaytes, Ric. Master, parson of Aldington, Father Ryche, Father Riseby, and Father Laurance. Hugh Riche, friar Observant, hath showed the revelations concerning the King and his reign to the Princess Dowager, lady Mary, my lady of Salisbury, lord and lady Husse, the lady marques of Exeter, the bishop of Rochester, lady Dareby (Derby), Sir Thos. More, Mr. Abell, two priests in the country, whose names he has not showed ; Mr. Whyte, Mr. Dawbney, Mr. Percy, Mr. Nele and his wife, merchants of London ; the recorder of London, Hugh Fawkner and his wife, Mr. Semer and his wife, the confessor of Sion, lady Kingston, and some other ladies there ; the abbess of Sion, the prior of Shene, the proctors, Brother William, the sexton, Father Viccar, the brethren of the convent of Richmond, and divers brothers of the Holy religion, whose names he has not showed ; Henry Goold, priest ; Thos. Goold and his wife ; a priest of Windsor ; two priests of St. Alban's, whose names he has not showed ; the abbess of Burnam ; Mr. Dering, monk ; lady Belingham, Sir Thos. Arundell, John Arundell, Sir John (fn. 12) Carewe and his brother ; Mrs. Katharine Champer, his brother's wife, and somewhat to his brother. Father Riseby has showed the revelations concerning the King's reign to the lady marques of Exeter, the bishop of Rochester, Mr. More, Mr. Delphe, (fn. 13) an Observant, but a lay brother at Hampton ; Father Ryche of Rychemond ; Father Lewes Wilkinson, Friar Robt. Rufford, Friar John Kebill, and Friar Thos. Roche of Canterbury ; Wm. Ho, of the Charterhouse of Shene. John Dering, monk, showed the revelations concerning the King's reign to Mr. Crispyn, chaplain to the marques of Exeter. Mr. Richard Mayster showed the revelations and declaration concerning the King's reign to Oliver Wilkinson, his priest at Aldington ; Sir Wm., priest of Our Lady chapel of Courte of Streate ; to John Clark, the revelation, but not the declaration. John Huggyn of Ester (fn. 14) knoweth of it. Dr. Bocking has shown the revelation and declaration concerning the King's reign to Mr. Goold, the parson of Aldington, Friar Risby, Observant of Canterbury, Mr. Thwayts. The bishop of Rochester would have seen the great book of the Nun's revelations, if Dr. Bocking would have brought them to him. He has showed the revelation, without the declaration, to the priors of Leeds and Horeton. He showed the revelation and declaration to the vicar of St. Paul's, Canterbury, Master Barnes, dean of the Ellimosinary at Christ Church, Canterbury, the "Ancore" in Canterbury, Mr. Officiall, Mr. Nele, merchant ; Robt. Hewyt, (fn. 15) merchant (fn. 16) ; Thos. Wilford, John Warham, Thos. Beket. The Nun told him that she had showed the bishop of Rochester of the revelation [ (fn. 17) concerning the King]. Henry Goold, priest, has showed the revelation, &c. to Mr. Recorder of London, Mr. Nele, Thos. White, Robt. Dawbney, Thos. Perecy ; Thos. Goold and his wife ; Mr. Laurance, of Canterbury ; Fathers Riche, Riseby, and Laurance, Observants ; Fathers Michaell, Mann, and Brother William Howe, of Shene ; the Abbess, Father Confessor, Mr. Raynold, and lady Kingeston, of Sion ; Dr. Bocking and Master Dering, monks of Christ Church, Canterbury ; Mr. Langford, of Gelingham ; [ (fn. 17) Mr. Stephyns, with my lord marquis of Exeter, and others of his servants. Dr. Bocking, Goold, and Dering have read the letter sent by Master More to the Nun, and Friar Riche has heard of it.] The Nun also confesses the said letter. Pp. 5. Endd.
R. O.	2. Another copy of the same. In the second paragraph Sir Thos. More's name is inserted by Cromwell in place of the following sentence, which has been struck out : "He confesseth that he hath showed other revelations to Sir Thos. More, but none concerning the King, for he would not hear them." The words, "but nothing of the King's matter," are added to the names of Mr. Semer and his wife, and the abbess of Syon, and are struck out in both cases. Pp. 6.
R. O.	3. Draft of a portion of the same. Pp. 2. Endd. : T. G. Denton, of the Temple ... [b]edfelow.
R. O.	4. Draft of the remainder. The names of Thos. Wilford, John Warham, and Thos. Beket are not mentioned. P. 1. Endd. : Concerning the Nun, Bocking, and their affinity.
R. O.	5. Further depositions. Headed : "Ihesus." "De Sacramento." She showed these revelations to Sir Thos. More divers times. The first time he little regarded them, but finally greatly rejoiced to hear of them, and gave much faith to them. The bishop of Rochester wept for joy on hearing of them, saying that he gave them the more credence because she had been with the King divers times, and reproved him for his sins. She showed me at Canterbury that the King offered to make her abbess of , (fn. 18) but she refused, and the King was greatly displeased. "My lord of Wylschyre sent to the Emperor, how the Queen would have had her to remain in the court, and my Lady, her mother, did desire her to wait upon her daughter. Father Riche told me that all the time the King was at Canterbury he neither visited Christ Church nor St. Augustins ; and the Nun told him the King "was so abominable [in] the sight of God, that he was no[t] worthy to tread on hallowed ground." Mrs. Gold showed me at the feast of Pentecost that the King was not married, but he did feign himself to be married, and that only to prove the hearts of his commons ; notwithstanding, she said that he would be married in short time after, with high solemnity and great triumph. I asked the Nun what danger the King should be in if he did marry. She answered that he should not live six months after ; whereof she said she had sure knowledge by revelation. She said, moreover, that the King would have been married beyond sea if she had not let it. The miracle of the bird and of the gentlewoman, of Master Recorder, of the two monks of Christ's Church. The said Nun had a revelation of Father Rytche, which she said was showed to her by Our Lady. To affirm the said miracle to be true, "she did send him word by Mrs. Golde that he did say mass for her, which was told to her by Our Lady, and also the hour and the time, adding thereto that Our Lady did show her that she was so confirmed in grace that she had no need of prayer, and that God did distribute the merit of the said mass to the comfort of them that were in sin." P. 1.
R. O.	6. "Elizabeth virginis spiritualis grati libri secundi prologus." Gives a short account of Elizabeth [Barton], a nun in the convent of St. Sepulchre, Kent, under the rule of the prioress Philippa. During her second year in the monastery, A.D. 1524, being 18 years of age, she saw visions and spoke divine words, which she neither learnt from others, nor could have invented herself, being unlearned. The present book contains what she declared to a holy man of the order of St. Benedict, a doctor of divinity. Lat., p. 1.
R. O.	7. The confession of Dame Elizabeth Barton. (fn. 19) That two of my lady Marchioness's (fn. 20) servants came for her to Syon on Friday after Midsummer last, to repair to the said Lady to Horseley, in Surrey. That they asked the Abbess to send the said Dame Elizabeth, and gave the latter a little book in form of a pair of tables with blank leaves. The Abbess advised her to go, saying that she was an honorable woman. She according went to Horseley, and the next morning spake with the Marchioness in a chamber apart. She thanked Dame Elizabeth for her pains taken in coming, said that she had heard many good and virtuous reports of her. The chief cause why she sent for her was that she had had children who lived not after their birth ; and, supposing herself to be with child again, she desired Dame Elizabeth to pray to Our Lady, that she might have issue that would live. During the conversation, Dame Elizabeth said that there might be war ; and the Marchioness asked her to pray for her husband, that if he went over he might return safely, and if possible might not go himself but send. She much lamented her husband's sickness at the time of the Queen's coronation, and said that though her person was there, her heart was at home with her husband. The said lady gave her in reward 20s. "And further she saith that Sir Thos. Arondell spake with her at Syon." Pp. 2. On a separate sheet are written the following names : "Mr. Maisters, parson of Aldington ; Dr. Bocking, selerer of Cristes Churche in Canterbury ; Mr. Bernes, Mr. of the Elemosynary of Cristes Church ; Mr. Dan Hadley, monke of Cristes Churche ; Mr. Collyn, officiall of Caunterbury."
R. O.	8. Henry Ball to Elizabeth Barton. Praises her virtue and supernatural gifts, though he knows she loves better to be dispraised than lauded. Has little profited by withdrawing from the world, and begs her prayers to help him. Signed : Henry Ball, a Shene monke unworthy. Hol., p. 1. Add.
Cleop. E. IV. 81. B. M. Wright's Supp. of Mon., 22.	1469. [Convent Of Christchurch, Canterbury, to Henry VIII.] Would have had intolerable sorrow and despair but for the common fame of the King's benignity. Implore his forgiveness ; and though the demerits of their miserable brother dan Edward Bocking, D.D., be so heinous, if the King will extend his goodness to him, he will have a thousand times more cause to love and pray for him than those who never offended. His temerity and furious zeal led him to slander the King's present marriage ; of which the writers desire to be purged, as no other among them has impugned it, though it is true that some of them, especially of the younger sort, were informed by the said Doctor of the counterfeit revelations of the Nun late of St. Sepulcre's in Canterbury. Would not be so presumptuous as to impugn the archbishop of Canterbury's sentence, and the opinions of the most famous clerks in Christendom. Pp. 2.
Cleop. E. IV. 79. B. M. Wright's Supp. of Mon., 19.	1470. Thos. Prior Of Christchurch, Canterbury, to [Cromwell]. The following are what I have heard of Eliz. Barton the nun's revelations. At the beginning thereof, about seven or eight years ago, archbishop Warham sent his controller, Thos. Walle, to Canterbury, and made me send two of my brethren, Dr. Bocking, the cellarer, and dompne Will. Hadley, B.D., to Courthopestrete, to see this woman and her trances. They went thither, I suppose, at first, somewhat against their minds and against mine, but for the obedience I owed my lord of Canterbury. The cellarer received the Archbishop's licence to be her ghostly father, and has continued so ever since, resorting to her when he would by my lord of Canterbury's licence, and generally not by mine. I have not been acquainted with her more than two years. Father Risby, now warden of the Observant Friars of Canterbury, was the cause of my being acquainted with her, for my mind was not to be familiarly acquainted with women. He said she was a person much in the favor of God, and that I should have much comfort in her speaking. Since then she has been with me six or seven times at the utmost, and she said she had revelations touching my lord of Canterbury that was, my lord Cardinal, and the King ; and that if the King married another woman he should not reign one month after ; and that she had been with the King, and shown him thereof twice. She also said she had shown the same to Warham,as I suppose she did, for she was often with him ; and that if God suffered the King to reign, He would not accept him as King ; also that when the King was at Calais, a priest being there at mass, the sacrament was taken from the altar and brought to her, and she received it. The cellarer also said she had revelations concerning the Pope ; that if the Pope gave sentence against the Queen that then was, God would plague him for it. Never read the books written by the cellarer, nor saw them, except when they were delivered, one to Mr. Attorney and one to John Antony. The cellarer only showed me a quire of paper relating to several persons that were dead ; one of them the cellarer's uncle, Master Benet, the other a servant of our house, called Stephen Villers. In that paper the Nun was desired to pray for them, and to know in what case they were ; and, as he wrote, it was revealed to her that they were in pain, and for what offences they were there, and what good deeds should be done to deliver them. It was also shown in the said paper that she was often troubled with her ghostly enemy, who moved her to incontinency. Was never present at any of her trances at Courthopestrete or elsewhere ; but the nuns report she has for six or seven years been usually sick about the Conception of Our Lady, and lain three or four days without meat or drink. Last year when she lay so, I was called to see her, but she only spoke like any other sick person. Signed. Pp. 4.
Cleop. E. IV. 84 (fn. 21). B. M.	1471. Wm. Hawkherst, Monk of St. Austyns, to Chr. Hales. Thanks him for his great goodness in his last trouble, which he is unable to recompense. Has received his letter, and accordingly has sent the two letters which domp John Deryng wrote to Dame Elsabeth Berton. Hales says that as he remembers Hawkherst wrote them ; but on his faith he never said that he wrote them, but that he had them, and that Dame Elsabeth asked him to write an answer. Hol., p. 1. Add. : Master Chr. Hales, attorney to the King's grace.