History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume V Part 12

Encouraged by this act of faith--this _auto da fe_--the clergy drew up the articles known as the "Const.i.tutions of Arundel," which forbade the reading of the Bible, and styled the pope, "not a mere man, but a true G.o.d."[211] The Lollards' tower, in the archiepiscopal palace of Lambeth, was soon filled with pretended heretics, many of whom carved on the walls of their dungeons the expression of their sorrow and their hopes: _Jesus amor meus_, wrote one of them.[212]

[211] Not of pure man but of true G.o.d, here in earth. Ibid. p. 596.

[212] "Jesus is my love." These words are still to be read in the tower.

To crush the lowly was not enough: the Gospel must be driven from the more exalted stations. The priests, who were sincere in their belief, regarded those n.o.blemen as misleaders, who set the word of G.o.d above the laws of Rome; and accordingly they girded themselves for the work.

A few miles from Rochester stood Cowling Castle, in the midst of the fertile pastures watered by the Medway,

The fair Medwaya that with wanton pride Forms silver mazes with her crooked tide.[213]

[213] Blackmore.

In the beginning of the fifteenth century it was inhabited by Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, a man in high favour with the king. The "poor priests" thronged to Cowling in quest of Wickliffe's writings, of which Cobham had caused numerous copies to be made, and whence they were circulated through the dioceses of Canterbury, Rochester, London, and Hertford. Cobham attended their preaching, and if any enemies ventured to interrupt them, he threatened them with his sword.[214] "I would sooner risk my life," said he, "than submit to such unjust decrees as dishonour the everlasting Testament." The king would not permit the clergy to lay hands on his favourite.

[214] Eorum praedicationibus nefariis interfuit, et contradictores, si quos repererat, minis et terroribus et gladii secularis potentia compescuit. (Rymer, Fdera. tom. iv. pars 2, p. 50.) He attended their interdicted preaching, and if he found any interrupting them, he kept them in check by threats and terrors and by the power of the secular sword.

[Sidenote: COBHAM BEFORE THE ARCHBISHOP.]

But Henry V having succeeded his father in 1413, and pa.s.sed from the houses of ill-fame he had hitherto frequented, to the foot of the altars and the head of the armies, the archbishop immediately denounced Cobham to him, and he was summoned to appear before the king. Sir John had understood Wickliffe's doctrine, and experienced in his own person the might of the divine Word. "As touching the pope and his spirituality," he said to the king, "I owe them neither suit nor service, forasmuch as I know him by the Scriptures to be the great antichrist."[215] Henry thrust aside Cobham's hand as he presented his confession of faith: "I will not receive this paper, lay it before your judges." When he saw his profession refused, Cobham had recourse to the only arm which he knew of out of the Gospel. The differences which we now settle by pamphlets were then very commonly settled by the sword:--"I offer in defence of my faith to fight for life or death with any man living, Christian or pagan, always excepting your majesty."[216] Cobham was led to the Tower.

[215] Fox, vol. i. p. 636, fol.

[216] Fox, Acts, i. p. 637.

On the 23rd September, 1413, he was taken before the ecclesiastical tribunal then sitting at St. Paul's. "We must believe," said the primate to him, "what the holy church of Rome teaches, without demanding Christ's authority."--"Believe!" shouted the priests, "believe!"--"I am willing to believe all that G.o.d desires," said Sir John; "but that the pope should have authority to teach what is contrary to Scripture--that I can never believe." He was led back to the Tower. The word of G.o.d was to have its martyr.

On Monday, 25th September, a crowd of priests, canons, friars, clerks, and indulgence-sellers, thronged the large hall of the Dominican convent, and attacked Lord Cobham with abusive language. These insults, the importance of the moment for the Reformation of England, the catastrophe that must needs close the scene: all agitated his soul to its very depths. When the archbishop called upon him to confess his offence, he fell on his knees, and lifting up his hands to heaven, exclaimed: "I confess to Thee, O G.o.d! and acknowledge that in my frail youth I seriously offended Thee by my pride, anger, intemperance, and impurity: for these offences I implore thy mercy!" Then standing up, his face still wet with tears, he said: "I ask not your absolution: it is G.o.d's only that I need."[217] The clergy did not despair, however, of reducing this high-spirited gentleman: they knew that spiritual strength is not always conjoined with bodily vigour, and they hoped to vanquish by priestly sophisms the man who dared challenge the papal champions to single combat. "Sir John," said the primate at last, "You have said some very strange things; we have spent much time in endeavours to convince you, but all to no effect. The day pa.s.seth away: you must either submit yourself to the ordinance of the most holy church...." "I will none otherwise believe than what I have told you. Do with me what you will."--"Well then, we must needs do the law," the archbishop made answer.

[217] Quod nullam absolutionem in hac parte peteret a n.o.bis, sed a solo Deo. Rymer, Fdera, p. 51.

[Sidenote: THE LOLLARDS.]

Arundel stood up; all the priests and people rose with him and uncovered their heads. Then holding the sentence of death in his hand, he read it with a loud clear voice. "It is well," said Sir John; "though you condemn my body, you can do no harm to my soul, by the grace of my eternal G.o.d." He was again led back to the Tower, whence he escaped one night, and took refuge in Wales. He was retaken in December, 1417, carried to London, dragged on a hurdle to Saint Giles's fields, and there suspended by chains over a slow fire, and cruelly burned to death. Thus died a Christian, ill.u.s.trious after the fashion of his age--a champion of the Word of G.o.d. The London prisons were filled with Wickliffites, and it was decreed that they should be hung on the king's account, and burnt for G.o.d's.[218]

[218] Incendio propter Deum, suspendio propter regem. Thom. Waldensis in proemio. Raynald, ann. 1414. No. 16.

The intimidated Lollards were compelled to hide themselves in the humblest ranks of the people, and to hold their meetings in secret.

The work of redemption was proceeding noiselessly among the elect of G.o.d. Of these Lollards, there were many who had been redeemed by Jesus Christ; but in general they knew not, to the same extent as the evangelical Christians of the sixteenth century, the quickening and justifying power of faith. They were plain, meek, and often timid folks, attracted by the word of G.o.d, affected at the condemnation it p.r.o.nounces against the errors of Rome, and desirous of living according to its commandments. G.o.d had a.s.signed them a part--and an important part too--in the great transformation of Christianity. Their humble piety, their pa.s.sive resistance, the shameful treatment which they bore with resignation, the penitent's robes with which they were covered, the tapers they were compelled to hold at the church door--all these things betrayed the pride of the priests, and filled the most generous minds with doubts and vague desires. By a baptism of suffering, G.o.d was then preparing the way to a glorious reformation.

CHAPTER X.

Learning at Florence--The Tudors--Erasmus visits England--Sir Thomas More--Dean Colet--Erasmus and young Henry--Prince Arthur and Catherine--Marriage and Death--Catherine betrothed to Henry--Accession of Henry VIII--Enthusiasm of the Learned--Erasmus recalled to England--Cromwell before the Pope--Catherine proposed to Henry--Their Marriage and Court--Tournaments--Henry's Danger.

[Sidenote: LEARNING AT FLORENCE.]

This reformation was to be the result of two distinct forces--the revival of learning and the resurrection of the word of G.o.d. The latter was the princ.i.p.al cause, but the former was necessary as a means. Without it the living waters of the Gospel would probably have traversed the age, like summer streams which soon dry up, such as those which had burst forth here and there during the middle ages; it would not have become that majestic river, which, by its inundations, fertilized all the earth. It was necessary to discover and examine the original fountains, and for this end the study of Greek and Hebrew was indispensable. Lollardism and humanism (the study of the cla.s.sics) were the two laboratories of the reform. We have seen the preparations of the one, we must now trace the commencement of the other; and as we have discovered the light in the lowly valleys, we shall discern it also on the lofty mountain tops.

[Sidenote: THE TUDORS.]

About the end of the fifteenth century, several young Englishmen chanced to be at Florence, attracted thither by the literary glory which environed the city of the Medici. Cosmo had collected together a great number of works of antiquity, and his palace was thronged with learned men. William Selling, a young English ecclesiastic, afterwards distinguished at Canterbury by his zeal in collecting valuable ma.n.u.scripts; his fellow-countrymen, Grocyn, Lilly, and Latimer "more bashful than a maiden;"[219] and, above all, Linacre, whom Erasmus ranked before all the scholars of Italy,--used to meet in the delicious villa of the Medici with Politian, Chalcondyles, and other men of learning; and there, in the calm evenings of summer, under that glorious Tuscan sky, they dreamt romantic visions of the Platonic philosophy. When they returned to England, these learned men laid before the youth of Oxford the marvellous treasures of the Greek language. Some Italians even, attracted by the desire to enlighten the barbarians, and a little, it may be, by the brilliant offers made them, quitted their beloved country for the distant Britain. Cornelius Vitelli taught at Oxford, and Caius Amberino at Cambridge. Caxton imported the art of printing from Germany, and the nation hailed with enthusiasm the brilliant dawn which was breaking at last in their cloudy sky.

[219] Pudorem plus quam virgineum. Erasm. Ep. i. p. 525.

While learning was reviving in England, a new dynasty succeeded to the throne, bringing with it that energy of character which of itself is able to effect great revolutions; the Tudors succeeded the Plantagenets. That inflexible intrepidity by which the reformers of Germany, Switzerland, France, and Scotland were distinguished, did not exist so generally in those of England; but it was found in the character of her kings, who often stretched it even to violence. It may be that to this preponderance of energy in its rulers, the church owes the preponderance of the state in its affairs.

Henry Tudor, the Louis XI of England, was a clever prince, of decided but suspicious character, avaricious and narrow-minded. Being descended from a Welsh family, he belonged to that ancient race of Celts, who had so long contended against the papacy. Henry had extinguished faction at home, and taught foreign nations to respect his power. A good genius seemed to exercise a salutary influence over his court as well as over himself: this was his mother, the Countess of Richmond. From her closet, where she consecrated the first five hours of the day to reading, meditation, and prayer, she moved to another part of the palace to dress the wounds of some of the lowest mendicants; thence she pa.s.sed into the gay saloons, where she would converse with the scholars, whom she encouraged by her munificence.

This n.o.ble lady's pa.s.sion for study, of which her son inherited but little, was not without its influence in her family. Arthur and Henry, the king's eldest sons, trembled in their father's presence; but, captivated by the affection of their pious grandmother, they began to find a pleasure in the society of learned men. An important circ.u.mstance gave a new impulse to one of them.

[Sidenote: ERASMUS IN ENGLAND.]

Among the countess's friends was Montjoy, who had known Erasmus at Paris, and heard his cutting sarcasms upon the schoolmen and friars.

He invited the ill.u.s.trious Dutchman to England, and Erasmus, who was fearful of catching the plague, gladly accepted the invitation, and set out for what he believed to be the kingdom of darkness. But he had not been long in England before he discovered unexpected light.

Shortly after his arrival, happening to dine with the lord-mayor, Erasmus noticed on the other side of the table a young man of nineteen, slender, fresh-coloured, with blue eyes, coa.r.s.e hands, and the right shoulder somewhat higher than the other. His features indicated affability and gaiety, and pleasant jests were continually dropping from his lips. If he could not find a joke in English, he would in French, and even in Latin or Greek. A literary contest soon ensued between Erasmus and the English youth. The former, astonished at meeting with any one that could hold his own against him, exclaimed: _Aut tu es Morus aut nullus!_ (you are either More or n.o.body); and his companion, who had not learnt the stranger's name, quickly replied: _Aut tu es Erasmus aut diabolus!_ (you are either the devil or Erasmus).[220] More flung himself into the arms of Erasmus, and they became inseparable friends. More was continually joking, even with women, teasing the young maidens, and making fun of the dull, though without any tinge of ill-nature in his jests.[221] But under this sportive exterior he concealed a deep understanding. He was at that time lecturing on Augustine's '_City of G.o.d_' before a numerous audience composed of priests and aged men. The thought of eternity had seized him: and being ignorant of that internal discipline of the Holy Ghost, which is the only true discipline, he had recourse to the scourge on every Friday. Thomas More is the ideal of the catholicism of this period. He had, like the Romish system, two poles--worldliness and asceticism; which, although contrary, often meet together. In fact, asceticism makes a sacrifice of _self_, only to preserve it; just as a traveller attacked by robbers will readily give up a portion of his treasures to save the rest. This was the case with More, if we rightly understand his character. He sacrificed the accessories of his fallen nature to save that same nature. He submitted to fasts and vigils, wore a shirt of hair-cloth, mortified his body by small chains next his skin--in a word, he immolated every thing in order to preserve that _self_ which a real regeneration alone can sacrifice.

[220] Life of More by his Great-grandson, (1828), p. 93.

[221] c.u.m mulieribus fere atque etiam c.u.m uxore nonnisi lusus jocos ne tractat. Erasm. Ep. i. p. 536.

[Sidenote: A ROYAL SCHOOL-ROOM.]

From London Erasmus went to Oxford, where he met with John Colet, a friend of More's, but older, and of very dissimilar character. Colet, the scion of an ancient family, was a very portly man, of imposing aspect, great fortune, and elegance of manners, to which Erasmus had not been accustomed. Order, cleanliness, and decorum prevailed in his person and in his house. He kept an excellent table, which was open to all the friends of learning, and at which the Dutchman, no great admirer of the colleges of Paris with their sour wine and stale eggs, was glad to take a seat.[222] He there met also most of the cla.s.sical scholars of England, especially Grocyn, Linacre, Thomas Wolsey, bursar of Magdalene College, Halsey, and some others. "I cannot tell you how I am delighted with your England," he wrote to Lord Montjoy from Oxford. "With such men I could willingly live in the farthest coasts of Scythia."[223]

[222] Quantum ibi devorabatur ovorum putrium, quantum vini putris hauriebatur. Erasm. Colloq. p. 564.

[223] Dici non potest quam mihi dulcescat Anglia tua ... . vel in extrema Scythia vivere non recusem. Erasm. Ep. i. p. 311.

[Sidenote: ARTHUR AND CATHERINE.]

But if Erasmus on the banks of the Thames found a Maecenas in Lord Montjoy, a Labeo and perhaps a Virgil in More, he nowhere found an Augustus. One day as he was expressing his regrets and his fears to More, the latter said: "Come, let us go to Eltham, perhaps we shall find there what you are looking for." They set out, More jesting all the way, inwardly resolving to expiate his gaiety by a severe scourging at night. On their arrival they were heartily welcomed by Lord and Lady Montjoy, the governor and governess of the king's children. As the two friends entered the hall, a pleasing and unexpected sight greeted Erasmus. The whole of the family were a.s.sembled, and they found themselves surrounded not only by some of the royal household, but by the domestics of Lord Montjoy also. On the right stood the Princess Margaret, a girl of eleven years, whose great-grandson under the name of Stuart was to continue the Tudor line in England; on the left was Mary, a child four years of age; Edmund was in his nurse's arms; and in the middle of the circle, between his two sisters, stood a boy, at that time only nine years old, whose handsome features, royal carriage, intelligent eye, and exquisite courtesy, had an extraordinary charm for Erasmus.[224] That boy was Henry, Duke of York, the king's second son, born on the 28th June 1491. More, advancing towards the young prince, presented to him some piece of his own writing; and from that hour Erasmus kept up a friendly intercourse with Henry, which in all probability exercised a certain influence over the destinies of England. The scholar of Rotterdam was delighted to see the prince excel in all the manly sports of the day. He sat his horse with perfect grace and rare intrepidity, could hurl a javelin farther than any of his companions, and having an excellent taste for music, he was already a performer on several instruments. The king took care that he should receive a learned education, for he destined him to fill the see of Canterbury; and the ill.u.s.trious Erasmus, noticing his apt.i.tude for every thing he undertook, did his best to cut and polish this English diamond that it might glitter with the greater brilliancy. "He will begin nothing that he will not finish," said the scholar. And it is but too true, that this prince always attained his end, even if it were necessary to tread on the bleeding bodies of those he had loved. Flattered by the attentions of the young Henry, attracted by his winning grace, charmed by his wit, Erasmus on his return to the continent everywhere proclaimed that England at last had found its Octavius.

[224] Erasm. Ep. ad Botzhem. Jortin. Appendix, p. 108.

As for Henry VII he thought of everything but Virgil or Augustus.

Avarice and ambition were his predominant tastes, which he gratified by the marriage of his eldest son in 1501. Burgundy, Artois, Provence, and Brittany having been recently united to France, the European powers felt the necessity of combining against that encroaching state.

It was in consequence of this that Ferdinand of Aragon had given his daughter Joanna to Philip of Austria, and that Henry VII asked the hand of his daughter Catherine, then in her sixteenth year and the richest princess in Europe, for Arthur prince of Wales, a youth about ten months younger. The catholic king made one condition to the marriage of his daughter. Warwick, the last of the Plantagenets and a pretender to the crown, was confined in the Tower. Ferdinand, to secure the certainty that Catherine would really ascend the English throne, required that the unhappy prince should be put to death. Nor did this alone satisfy the king of Spain. Henry VII, who was not a cruel man, might conceal Warwick, and say that he was no more.

Ferdinand demanded that the chancellor of Castile should be present at the execution. The blood of Warwick was shed; his head rolled duly on the scaffold; the Castilian chancellor verified and registered the murder, and on the 14th November the marriage was solemnized at St.

Paul's. At midnight the prince and princess were conducted with great pomp to the bridal-chamber.[225] These were ill-omened nuptials--fated to set the kings and nations of Christendom in battle against each other, and to serve as a pretext for the external and political discussions of the English Reformation. The marriage of Catherine the Catholic was a marriage of blood.

[225] Principes summa nocte ad thalamum solemni ritu deducti sunt.

Sanderus, de schismate Angl. p. 2.

[Sidenote: DEATH OF PRINCE ARTHUR.]

In the early part of 1502 Prince Arthur fell ill, and on the 2nd of April he died. The necessary time was taken to be sure that Catherine had no hope of becoming a mother, after which the friend of Erasmus, the youthful Henry, was declared heir to the crown, to the great joy of all the learned. This prince did not forsake his studies: he spoke and wrote in French, German, and Spanish with the facility of a native; and England hoped to behold one day the most learned of Christian kings upon the throne of Alfred the Great.