(1539. 31 Henry VIII. c. 8. 3 S. R. 726.)
FORASMUCH as the king's most royal majesty for divers considerations, by the advice of his council, hath heretofore set forth divers and sundry his grace's proclamations, as well for and concerning divers and sundry articles of Christ's religion, as for an unity and concord to be had amongst the loving and obedient subjects of this his realm and other his dominions, and also concerning the advancement of his commonwealth and good quiet of his people, which nevertheless divers and many froward, wilful and obstinate persons have wilfully contemned and broken, not considering what a king by his royal power may do, and for lack of a direct statute and law to coarct offenders to obey the said proclamations, which, being still suffered, should not only encourage offenders to the disobedience of the precepts and laws of Almighty God, but also be too much to the great dishonour of the king's most royal majesty, who may full ill bear it, and also give too great heart and boldness to all malefactors and offenders; considering also that sudden causes and occasions fortune many times which do require speedy remedies, and that by abiding for a parliament in the mean time might happen great prejudice to ensue to the realm; and weighing also that His Majesty (which by the kingly and regal power given him by God may do many things in such cases) should not be driven to extend the liberty and supremacy of his regal power and dignity by wilfulness of froward subjects; it is therefore thought in manner more than necessary that the king's highness of this realm for the time being with the advice of his honourable council should make and set forth proclamations, for the good and politic order and governance of this his realm of England, Wales and other his dominions from time to time for the defence of his regal dignity and the advancement of his commonwealth and good quiet of his people, as the cases of necessity shall require, and that an ordinary law should be provided by the assent of his majesty and parliament, for the due punishment, correction and reformation of such offences and disobediences; be it therefore enacted by the authority of this present parliament, with the king's majesty, the lords spiritual and temporal and the commons' assent, that always the king for the time being with the advice of his honourable council, whose names hereafter followeth, may set forth at all times by proclamations, under such penalties and pains and of such sort as to his highness and his said honourable council shill seem necessary and requisite; and that those same shall be obeyed, observed and kept as though they were made by act of parliament for the time in them limited, unless the king's highness dispense with them or any of them under his great seal.
II. Provided always that the words, meaning and intent of this act be not understood, interpreted, construed or extended, that by virtue of it any of the king's liege people, of what estate, degree or condition soever he or they be, bodies politic or corporate, their heirs or successors, should have any of his or their inheritance, lawful possessions, offices, liberties, privileges, franchises, goods or chattels taken from them or any of them, nor by virtue of the said act suffer any pains of death, other than shall be hereafter in this act declared, nor that by any proclamation to be made by virtue of this act, any acts, common laws standing at this present time in strength add force, nor yet any lawful or laudable customs of this realm or any of them, shall be infringed, broken or subverted: and especially all those acts standing this hour in force which have been made in the king's highness' time; but that every such person and persons, bodies politic and corporate, their heirs and successors and the heirs and successors of every of them, their inheritances, lawful possessions, offices, liberties, privileges, franchises, goods and chattels shall stand and be in the same state and condition, to every respect and purpose, as if this act or proviso had never been had or made; except such forfeitures, pains and penalties as in this act and in every proclamation which shall be declared and expressed; and except such persons which shall offend any proclamation to be made by the king's highness, his heirs or successors for and concerning any kind of heresies against the Christian religion.
III. Furthermore be it enacted by the authority of this present parliament, that to the intent the king's subjects should not be ignorant of his proclamations every sheriff or other officer and minister to whom any such proclamation shall be directed by the king's writ under his great seal, shall proclaim or cause the same to be proclaimed within fourteen days after the receipt thereof in four several market towns if there be so many or else in six other towns or villages within the limits of their authority; and they to cause the said proclamations to he fixed and set openly upon places convenient in every such town, place or village, upon pain and penalty of such sum and sums of money or imprisonment of body as shall be contained in the said proclamation or proclamations.
IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that if any person or persons, of what estate, degree or condition soever he or they be, which at any time hereafter do wilfully offend and break or obstinately not observe and keep any such proclamation or any article therein contained which shall proceed from the king's majesty by the advice of his council as is aforesaid, that then all and every such offender or offenders, being thereof, within one half year next after his or their offence committed, accused and thereof within eighteen months next after the same offence so committed convicted by confession or lawful witness and proofs before the archbishop of Canterbury, metropolitan, the chancellor of England, the lord treasurer of England, the lord president of the king's most honourable council, the lord privy seal, the great chamberlain of England, lord admiral, lord steward or grand master, lord chamberlain of the king's most honourable household, two other bishops being of the king's council, such as his grace shall appoint for the same, the secretary, the treasurer and comptroller of the king's most honourable household, the master of the horse, the two chief judges and the master of the rolls for the time being, the chancellor of the augmentations, the chancellor of the duchy, the chief baron of the exchequer, the two general surveyors, the chancellor of the exchequer, the under treasurer of the same, the treasurer of the king's chamber for the time being, in the star chamber at Westminster or elsewhere, or at the least before the half of the number afore rehearsed, of which number the lord chancellor, the lord treasurer, the lord president of the king's most honourable council, the lord privy seal, the chamberlain of England, the lord admiral, the two chief judges for the time being or two of them shall be two, shall lose and pay such penalties, forfeitures of sums of money, to be levied of his or their land, tenants, goods and chattels to the king's use, and also suffer such imprisonment of his body, as shall be expressed, mentioned and declared in any such proclamation or proclamations which such offender or offenders shall offend and break or not observe and keep, contrary to this act as is aforesaid; and that execution shall he had. done and made against every such offender and offenders with the addition of the names or surnames, towns or counties, mystery or occupation of the said offenders, by such order, process, ways and means and after such manner, form and condition as by the king's highness and the said council shall he devised and thought most convenient for example of such offenders: provided alway that none offender, which shall offend contrary to the form of any such proclamations, shall incur the danger and penalty thereof except such proclamation or proclamations be had, done or made in such shire or county where the offender hath or shall dwell or be most conversant within a year before.
V. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the lord chancellor, the lord privy seal and either of them, with the assent of six of the afore named, shall have power and authority by their discretions, upon every information to be given to them or either of them touching the premises, to cause process to be made against all and singular such offenders by writs under the king's great seal or under his grace's privy seal in form following, that is to say; first by proclamation under a pain or a penalty by the discretion of the aforesaid councillors appointed for the awarding of process, and if he appear not to the same without a lawful excuse, then the said councillors to award out another proclamation upon allegation of the same offender, for the due examination, trial and conviction of every such person and persons as shall offend contrary to this act, for the due execution to be had of and for the same in manner and form as is above remembered; except it be within the liberty of the county palatine of the duchy of Lancaster; and in case it so be, then to pass by the chancellor of the king's duchy of Lancaster under the seal of the said duchy, with the assent of six at the least of the aforenamed councillors.
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VIII. And be it further enacted, that if it happen our said sovereign lord the king to decease (whose life God long preserve) before such time as that person which shall be his next heir or successor to the imperial crown of this realm, shall accomplish and come to the age of eighteen years, that then all and singular proclamations which shall be in any wise made and set forth into any part of this realm or other the king's dominions by virtue of this act, within the aforesaid years of the said next heir or successor, shall be set forth in the successor's name then being king, and shall import or bear underwritten the full names of such of the king's honourable council then being as shall be the devisors or setters forth of the same which shall be in this case the whole number afore rehearsed, or at least the more part of them, or else the proclamations to be void and of none effect.
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(1539. 31 Henry VIII. c. 13. 3 S. R. 733. The whole act reprinted in G. and H. 281-303.)
WHERE divers and sundry abbots, priors, abbesses, prioresses, and other ecclesiastical governors and governesses of divers monasteries, abbacies, priories, nunneries, colleges, hospitals, houses of friars, and other religious and ecclesiastical houses and places within this our sovereign lord the king's realm of England and Wales, of their own free and voluntary minds, good wills and assents, without constraint, coarction, or compulsion of any manner of person or persons, since the fourth day of February, the twenty-seventh year of the reign of our now most dread sovereign lord, by the due order and course of the common laws of this his realm of England, and by their sufficient writings of record, under their convent and common seals, have severally given, granted, and by the same their writings severally confirmed all their said monasteries, abbacies, priories, nunneries, colleges, hospitals, houses of friars, and other religious and ecclesiastical houses and places, and all their sites, circuits, and precincts of the same, and all and singular their manors, lordships, granges, meases, lands, tenements, meadows, pastures, rents, reversions, services, woods, tithes, pensions, portions, churches, chapels, advowsons, patronages, annuities, rights, entries, conditions, commons, leets, courts, liberties, privileges, and franchises appertaining or in any wise belonging to any such monastery, abbacy, priory nunnery, college, hospital, house of friars, and other religious and ecclesiastical houses and places, or to any of them, by whatsoever name or corporation they or any of them were then named or called, and of what order, habit, religion, or other kind or quality soever they or any of them then were reputed, known, or taken; to have and to hold all the said monasteries, abbacies, priories, nunneries, colleges, hospitals, houses of friars, and other religious and ecclesiastical houses and places, sites, circuits, precincts, manors, lands, tenements, meadows, pastures, rents, reversions, services, and all other the premises, to our said sovereign lord, his heirs and successors for ever, and the same their said monasteries, abbacies, priories, nunneries, colleges, hospitals, houses of friars, and other religious and ecclesiastical houses and places, sites, circuits, precincts, manors, lordships, granges, meases, lands, tenements, meadows, pastures, rents, reversions, services, and other the premises, voluntarily as is aforesaid, have renounced, left, and forsaken, and every of them has renounced, left, and forsaken:
II. Be it therefore enacted by the king our sovereign lord, and the lords spiritual and temporal, and the commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by authority of the same, that the king our sovereign lord shall have, hold, possess, and enjoy to him, his heirs and successors for ever, all and singular such late monasteries, abbacies, priories, nunneries, colleges, hospitals, houses of friars, and other religious and ecclesiastical houses and places, of what kinds, natures, qualities, or diversities of habits, rules, professions, or orders they or any of them, were named, known, or called, which since the said fourth day of February, the twenty-seventh year of the reign of our said sovereign lord, have been dissolved, suppressed, renounced, relinquished, forfeited, given up, or by any other mean come to his highness; and by the same authority, and in like manner, shall have, hold, possess, and enjoy all the sites, circuits, precincts, manors, lordships, granges, meases, lands, tenements, meadows, pastures, rents, reversions, services, woods, tithes, pensions, portions, parsonages appropriated, vicarages, churches, chapels, advowsons, nominations, patronages, annuities, rights, interests, entries, conditions. commons, leets, courts, liberties, privileges, franchises, and other whatsoever hereditaments, which appertained or belonged to the said late monasteries, abbacies, priories, nunneries, colleges. hospitals, houses of friars, and other religious or ecclesiastical houses and places, or to any of them, in as large and ample manner and form as the late abbots, priors, abbesses, prioresses, and other ecclesiastical governors and governesses of such late monasteries, abbacies, priories, nunneries, colleges, hospitals, houses of friars, and other religious and ecclesiastical houses and places, had, held, or occupied, or of right ought to have had, holden, or occupied, in the rights of their said late monasteries, abbacies, priories, nunneries, colleges, hospitals, houses of friars, or other religious or ecclesiastical houses or places, at the time of the said dissolution, suppression, renouncing, relinquishing, forfeiting, giving up, or by any other manner of means coming of the same to the king's highness since the fourth day of February above specified.
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(1539. 31 Henry VIII. c. 14. 3 S. R. 739. The whole act reprinted in G. and H. 303-319.)
WHERE the king's most excellent majesty is, by God's law, supreme head immediately under Him of this whole Church and congregation of England, intending the conservation of the same Church and congregation in a true, sincere, and uniform doctrine of Christ's religion, calling also to his blessed and most gracious remembrance as well the great and quiet assurance, prosperous increase, and other innumerable commodities, which have ever ensued, come, and followed, of concord, agreement, and unity in opinions, as also the manifold perils, dangers, and inconveniences which have heretofore, in many places and regions, grown, sprung, and arisen, of the diversities of minds and opinions, especially of matters of Christian religion, and therefore desiring that such a unity might and should be charitably established in all things touching and concerning the same, as the same, so being established, might chiefly be to the honour of Almighty God, the very Author and Fountain of all true unity and sincere concord, and consequently redound to the common wealth of this his highness's most noble realm, and of all his loving subjects, and other residents and inhabitants of or in the same; has therefore caused and commanded this his most High Court of Parliament, for sundry and many urgent causes and considerations, to be at this time summoned, and also a synod and Convocation of all the archbishops, bishops, and other learned men of the clergy of this his realm, to be in like manner assembled.
II. And forasmuch as in the said Parliament, synod, and Convocation, there were certain Articles, matters. and questions proponed and set forth touching Christian religion, that is to say:
First, whether in the most blessed Sacrament of the Altar remaineth, after the consecration, the substance of bread and wine, or no.
Secondly, whether it be necessary by God's law that all men should be communicate with both kinds, or no.
Thirdly, whether priests, that is to say, men dedicate to God by priesthood, may, by the law of God, marry after, or no.
Fourthly, whether vow of chastity or widowhood, made to God advisedly by man or woman, be, by the law of God, to be observed, or no.
Fifthly, whether private masses stand with the law of God, and be to be used and continued in the Church and congregation of England, as things whereby good Christian people may and do receive both godly consolation and wholesome benefits, or no.
Sixthly whether auricular confession is necessary to be retained, continued, used, and frequented in the Church, or no.
III. The king's most royal majesty, most prudently pondering and considering, that by occasion of variable and sundry opinions and judgments of the said Articles, great discord and variance has arisen, as well amongst the clergy of this his realm, as amongst a great number of vulgar people, his loving subjects of the same, and being in a full hope and trust that a full and perfect resolution of the said Articles should make a perfect concord and unity generally amongst all his loving and obedient subjects, of his most excellent goodness not only commanded that the said Articles should deliberately and advisedly, by his said archbishops, bishops, and other learned men of his clergy, be debated, argued, and reasoned, and their opinions therein to be understood, declared, and known, but also most graciously vouchsafed, in his own princely person, to descend and come into his said High Court of Parliament and council, and there, like a prince of most high prudence and no less learning, opened and declared many things of high learning and great knowledge, touching the said Articles, matters, and questions, for a unity to be had in the same;
whereupon, after a great and long, deliberate, and advised disputation and consultation had and made concerning the said Articles, as well by the consent of the king's highness, as by the assent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and other learned men of his clergy in their Convocation, and by the consent of the commons in this present Parliament assembled, it was and is finally resolved, accorded, and agreed in manner and form following, that is to say:
First, that in the most blessed Sacrament of the Altar, by the strength and efficacy of Christ's mighty word (it being spoken by the priest), is present really, under the form of bread and wine, the natural body and blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ, conceived of the Virgin Mary; and that after the consecration there remaineth no substance of bread or wine, nor any other substance, but the substance of Christ, God and man.
Secondly, that communion in both kinds is not necessary **ad salutem, by the law of God, to all persons; and that it is to be believed, and not doubted of, but that in the flesh, under the form of bread, is the very blood; and with the blood, under the form of wine, is the very flesh; as well apart, as though they were both together.
Thirdly, that priests after the order of priesthood received, as afore, may not marry, by the law of God.
Fourthly, that vows Of chastity or widowhood, by man or woman made to God advisedly ought to be observed by the law of God; and that it exempts them from other liberties of Christian people, which without that they might enjoy.
Fifthly that it is meet and necessary that private masses be continued and admitted in this the king's English Church and congregation, as whereby good Christian people, ordering themselves accordingly, do receive both godly and goodly consolations and benefits; and it is agreeable also to God's law.
Sixthly, that auricular confession is expedient and necessary to be retained and continued, used and frequented in the Church of God.
IV. For the which most godly study, pain, and travail of his majesty, and determination and resolution Of the premises, his most humble and obedient subjects, the lords spiritual and temporal, and the commons, in this present Parliament assembled, not only render and give unto his highness their most high and hearty thanks, and think themselves most bound to pray for the long continuance of his grace's most royal estate, but also being desirous that his most godly enterprise may be well accomplished, and brought to a full end and perfection, and so established that the same might be to the honour of God, and after, to the common quiet, unity, and concord to be had in the whole body of this realm for ever, most humbly beseech his royal majesty, that the resolution and determination above written of the said Articles may be established, and perpetually perfected, by authority of this present Parliament:
V. It is therefore ordained and enacted by the king our sovereign lord, the lords spiritual and temporal, and the commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that if any person or persons within this realm of England, or any other the king's dominions, after the twelfth day of July next coming, by word, writing, imprinting, ciphering, or in any other wise do publish, preach, teach, say, affirm, declare, dispute, argue, or hold any opinion, that in the blessed Sacrament of the Altar, under form of bread and wine (after the consecration thereof), there is not present really the natural body and blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ, conceived of the Virgin Mary, or that after the said consecration there remaineth any substance of bread or wine, or any other substance, but the substance of Christ, God and man, or after the time abovesaid publish, preach, teach, say, affirm, declare, dispute, argue, or hold opinion that in the flesh, under form of bread, is not the very blood of Christ; or that with the blood, under form of wine, is not the very flesh of Christ, as well apart as though they were both together; or by any of the means abovesaid, or otherwise, preach, teach, declare, or affirm the said Sacrament to be of other substance than is abovesaid; or by any means contemn, deprave, or despise the said blessed Sacrament: that then every such person and persons so offending, their aiders, comforters, counsellors, consenters, and abettors therein, being thereof convicted in form underwritten, by the authority abovesaid, shall be deemed and adjudged heretics. And that every such offence shall be adjudged manifest heresy, and that every such offender and offenders shall therefor have and suffer judgment, execution, pain, and pains of death by way of burning, without any abjuration, clergy, or sanctuary to be therefor permitted, had, allowed, admitted, or suffered; and also shall therefor forfeit and lose to the king's highness, his heirs and successors, all his or their honours, manors, castles, lands, tenements, rents, reversions, services, possessions, and all other his or their hereditaments, goods and chattels, terms and freeholds, whatsoever they be, which any such offender or offenders shall have at the time of any such offence or offences committed or done, or at any time after, as in cases of high treason.
VI. And furthermore be it enacted, by the authority of this present Parliament, that if any person or persons, after the said twelfth day of July, preach in any sermon or collation openly made to the king's people, or teach in any common school or to other congregation of people, or being called before such judges and according to such form of the law as hereafter shall be declared, do obstinately affirm, uphold, maintain, or defend that the communion of the said blessed Sacrament in both kinds, that is to say, in form of bread and also of wine, is necessary for the health of man's soul, to be given or ministered, or ought or should be given or ministered to any person in both kinds, or that it is necessary so to be received or taken by any person other than by priests being at Mass and consecrating the same; or that any man, after the order of priesthood received as aforesaid, may marry or may contract matrimony; or that any man or woman which advisedly has vowed or professed, or shall vow or profess, chastity or widowhood, may marry or may contract matrimony; or that private masses be not lawful or not laudable, or should not be celebrated, had, nor used in this realm, nor be not agreeable to the laws of God; or that auricular confession is not expedient and necessary to be retained and continued, used and frequented, in the Church of God; or if any priest, after the said twelfth day of July, or any other man or woman which advisedly has vowed, or after the said day advisedly do vow chastity or widowhood, do actually marry or contract matrimony with any person: that then all and every person and persons so preaching, teaching, obstinately affirming, upholding, maintaining, or defending, or making marriage or contract of matrimony, as is above specified, be and shall be, by authority above written, deemed and adjudged a felon and felons; and that every offender in the same, being therefor duly convicted or attainted by the laws underwritten, shall therefore suffer pains of death, as in cases of felony, without any benefit of clergy or privilege of church or sanctuary to him or her to be allowed in that behalf, and shall forfeit all his or her lands and goods, as in cases of felony, and that it shall be lawful to the patron or patrons of any manner of benefice which any such offender at the time of his said conviction or attainder had, to present one other incumbent thereunto, as if the same person so convicted or attainted had been bodily deceased.
VII. Also be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, that if any person or persons, after the said twelfth day of July, by word, writing, printing, ciphering, or otherwise than is above rehearsed, publish, declare, or hold opinion that the said communion of the blessed Sacrament in both kinds aforesaid is necessary for the health of man's soul to be given or ministered in both kinds, and so ought or should be given and ministered to any person, or ought or should be so in both kinds received or taken by any person other than by priests being at Mass and consecrating the same as is aforesaid, or that any man after the order of priesthood received as is aforesaid, may marry or may make contract of matrimony, or that any man or woman which advisedly has made or shall make a vow to God of chastity or widowhood, may marry or may make contract of matrimony, or that private masses be not lawful or not laudable, or should not be celebrated, had, nor used, nor be agreeable to the laws of God, or that auricular confession is not expedient and necessary to be retained and continued, used and frequented, in the Church of God; every person, being for every such offence duly convicted or attainted by the laws underwritten, shall forfeit and lose to the king, our sovereign lord, all his goods and chattels for ever, and also the profits of all his lands, tenements, annuities, fees, and offices during his life, and all his benefices and spiritual promotions shall be utterly void, and also shall suffer imprisonment of his body at the will and pleasure of our said sovereign lord the king; and if any such person or persons, being once convicted of any the offences mentioned in this article as is abovesaid, do afterwards eftsoons offend in any of the same, and be thereof accused, indicted, or presented and convicted again by the authority of the laws underwritten, that then every such person and persons so being twice convicted and attainted of the said offences, or of any of them, shall be adjudged a felon and felons, and shall suffer judgment, execution, and pains of death, loss and forfeiture of lands and goods, as in cases of felony, without any privilege of clergy or sanctuary to be in any wise permitted, admitted, or allowed in that behalf.
VIII. Be it further enacted by the authority abovesaid, that if any person, which is or has been a priest, before this present Parliament or during the time of session of the same has married and has made any contract of matrimony with any woman, or that any man or woman, which before the making of this Act advisedly has vowed chastity or widowhood, before this present Parliament or during the session of the same has married or contracted matrimony with any person; that then every such marriage and contract of matrimony shall be utterly void and of none effect, and that the ordinaries, within whose diocese or jurisdiction the person or persons so married or contracted is or be resident or abiding, shall from time to time make separation and divorces of the said marriages and contracts.
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X. And be it further enacted by authority abovesaid, that if any person or persons at any time hereafter contemn or contemptuously refuse, deny, or abstain to be confessed at the time commonly accustomed within this realm and Church of England, or contemn or contemptuously refuse, deny, or abstain to receive the holy and blessed Sacrament abovesaid at the time commonly used and accustomed for the same, that then every such offender, being thereof duly convicted or attainted by the laws underwritten, shall suffer such imprisonment and make such fine and ransom to the king our sovereign lord and his heirs, as by his highness or by his or their council, shall be ordered and adjudged in that behalf. And if any such offender or offenders, at any time or times after the said conviction or attainder so had, do eftsoons contemn or contemptuously refuse, deny, or abstain to be confessed or to be communicate in manner and form above written, and be thereof duly convicted or attainted by the laws underwritten, that then every such offence shall be deemed and adjudged felony, and the offender or offenders therein shall suffer pains of death, and lose and forfeit all his and their goods, lands, and tenements as in cases of felony.
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XXI. And it is also enacted by the authority abovesaid, that the said commissioners and every of them shall, from time to time, have full power and authority, by virtue of this Act, to take into his or their keeping [or] possession all and all manner of books which be and have been, or hereafter shall be, set forth, read, or declared within this realm, or other the king's dominions, wherein is or be contained or comprised any clause, article, matter, or sentence repugnant or contrary to the tenor, form, or effect of this present Act, or any of the articles contained in the same. And the said commissioners, or three of them at the least, to burn or otherwise destroy the said books, or any part of them, as unto the said commissioners, or unto three of them at the least, shall be thought expedient by their discretions.
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(1542. 33 Henry VIII. c. 21. 3 S. R. 857.)
[Modern Short Title: Royal Assent by Commission Act 1542]
IN their most humble wise beseech your most royal Majesty the lords spiritual and temporal and all other your most loving and obedient subjects the commons of this your most high court of parliament assembled; that where, besides any man's expectation, such chance hath happened, by Mistress Katherine Howard which Your Highness took to your wife, both to Your Majesty chiefly and so consequently to us all that the like we think hath scarce been seen, the likelihoods and appearances being so far contrary to that which by evident and due proof is now found true;
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of and for which treasons being manifestly and plainly proved, as well by the confession of the said queen and other the said parties as by divers other witnesses and proofs, the said Francis Dereham and Thomas Culpepper having been lawfully and truly and according to the laws of the realm convicted and attainted, and the said queen and Jane, lady Rochford, be lawfully indicted, insomuch that Thomas Culpepper and Francis Dereham have justly suffered therefor pains of death according to their merits as by the records thereof more plainly at large may appear; it may therefore please Your Highness of your most excellent and accustomed goodness, and for the entire love, favour and hearty affection that Your Majesty hath always heretofore borne and yet beareth to the commonwealth of this your realm of England, and for the conservation of your most excellent Highness and posterity, and of the good peace, unity and rest of us your most bounden and obedient subjects, to grant and assent, at the most humble desire and petition of your loving and obedient subjects the lords spiritual and temporal and the commons in this present parliament assembled, that this their lawful indictment and attainders of such as have lately suffered may be approved by the authority of this present parliament: and that it may be enacted that the said queen Katherine and Jane, lady Rochford, for their said abominable and detestable treasons by them and every of them most abominably and traitorously committed and done against Your Majesty and this your realm, shall be by the authority of this present parliament convicted and attainted of high treason; and that the same queen Katherine and Jane, lady Rochford, and either of them shall have and suffer pains of death, loss of goods, chattels, debts, farms and all other things as in cases of high treason by the laws of this your realm hath been accustomed granted and given to the crown: and also that the said queen Katherine, Jane, lady Rochford, Thomas Culpepper, and Francis Dereham, and every of them, shall lose and forfeit to Your Highness and to your heirs all such right, title, interest, use and possession, which they or any of them had the twenty-fifth day of August in the thirty-third year of your reign or any time since, of, in or to all such their honours, manors, meases, lands, tenements, rents, reversions, remainders, uses, possessions, offices, rights, conditions and all other their hereditaments of what names, natures or qualities soever they be; and that all such rights, title, interest, use and possession, which they or any of them had or of right ought to have the said twenty-fifth day of August or any time since, of, in or to the same honours, castles, manors, meases, lands, tenements, rents, reversions, remainders, uses, possessions, offices, rights, commodities, and hereditaments, by the authority aforesaid shall be deemed vested and judged to be in the actual and real possession of Your Majesty, without any office or inquisition thereof hereafter to be taken or found according to the common laws of this your realm.
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(1543. 3 Holinshed's Chronicle, 824-826.)
IN the Lent season, whilst the parliament yet continued, one George Ferrers, gentleman, servant to the king, being elected a burgess for the town of Plymouth in the county of Devonshire, in going to the parliament house, was arrested in London by a process out of the king's bench, at the suit of one White, for the sum of two hundred marks or thereabouts, wherein he was late afore condemned, as a surety for the debt of one Weldon of Salisbury: which arrest being signified to Sir Thomas Moyle, knight, then speaker of the parliament, and to the knights and burgesses there, order was taken, that the sergeant of the parliament, called St. John, should forthwith repair to the Compter in Bread Street (whither the said Ferrers was carried) and there demand delivery of the prisoner.
The sergeant (as he had in charge) went to the Compter, and declared to the clerks there what he had in commandment. But they and other officers of the city were so far from obeying the said commandment, as after many stout words they forcibly resisted the said sergeant. [part omitted] The sheriffs of London, called Rowland Hill and Henry Suckliffe, came thither, to whom the sergeant complained of this injury, and required of them the delivery of the said burgess, as afore. But they, bearing with their officers, made little account either of his complaint or of his message, rejecting the same contemptuously. [part omitted]
The sergeant thus hardy entreated, made return to the parliament house, and finding the speaker, and all the burgesses set in their places, declared unto them the whole case as it fell, who took the same in so ill part, that they altogether (of whom there were not a few as well of the king's privy council, as also of his privy chamber) would sit no longer without their burgess, but rose up wholly, and repaired to the upper house, where the whole case was declared by the mouth of the speaker, before Sir Thomas Audley, knight, then lord chancellor of England, and all the lords and judges there assembled, who, judging the contempt to be very great, referred the punishment thereof to the order of the commons house. They returning to their places again, upon new debate of the case, took order, that their sergeant should eftsoons repair to the sheriff of London, and require delivery of the said burgess, without any writ or warrant had for the same, but only as afore.
And yet the lord chancellor offered there to grant a writ, which they of the commons house refused, being in a clear opinion, that all commandments and other acts [of] proceeding from the nether house, were to be done and executed by their sergeant without writ, only by show of his mace, which was his warrant. But before the sergeant's return into London, the sheriffs having intelligence how heinously the matter was taken, became somewhat more mild, so as upon the said second demand, they delivered the prisoner without any denial. But the sergeant, having then further in commandment from those of the nether house, charged the said sheriffs to appear personally on the morrow, by eight of the clock before the speaker in the nether house, and to bring thither the clerks of the Compter, and such officers as were parties to the said affray, and in like manner to take into his custody the said White, which wittingly procured the said arrest, in contempt of the privilege of the parliament.
Which commandment being done by the said sergeant accordingly, on the morrow the two sheriffs, with one of the clerks of the Compter (which was the chief occasion of the said affray) together with the said White, appeared in the commons house, where the speaker charging them with their contempt and misdemeanour aforesaid, they were compelled to make immediate answer, without being admitted to any counsel. Albeit, Sir Roger Cholmeley, then recorder of London, and other of the counsel of the city there present, offered to speak in the cause, which were all put to silence, and none suffered to speak, but the parties themselves: whereupon, in conclusion, the said sheriffs and the same White were committed to the Tower of London, and the said clerk (which was the occasion of the affray) to a place there called Little Ease, and the officer of London which did the arrest, called Taylor, with four other officers, to Newgate, where they remained from the eighth and twentieth until the thirtieth of March, and then they were delivered, not without humble suit made by the mayor of London and other their friends.
And for so much as the said Ferrers being in execution upon a condemnation of debt, and set at large by privilege of parliament, was not by law to be brought again into execution, and so the party without remedy for his debt, as well against him as his principal debtor; after long debate of the same by the space of nine or ten days' together, at last they resolved upon an act of parliament to he made, and to revive the execution of the said debt against the said Weldon which was principal debtor, and to discharge the said Ferrers. But before this came to pass, the commons house was divided upon the question: howbeit in conclusion, the act passed for the said Ferrers, won by fourteen voices.
The king then being advertised of all this proceeding, called immediately before him the lord chancellor of England and his judges, with the speaker of the parliament, and other of the gravest persons of the nether house, to whom he declared his opinion to this effect. First commending their wisdoms in maintaining the privileges of their house (which he would not have to be infringed in any point) he alleged that he being head of the parliament, and attending in his own person upon the business thereof, ought in reason to have privilege for him and all his servants attending there upon him. So that if the said Ferrers had been no burgess, but only his servant, yet in respect thereof he was to have the privilege as well as any other.
For I understand (quoth he) that you not only for your own persons, but also for your necessary servants, even to your cooks and housekeepers, enjoy the said privilege: insomuch as my lord chancellor here present hath informed us, that he being speaker of the parliament, the cook of the Temple was arrested in London, and in execution upon a statute of the staple. And forsomuch as the said cook, during all the parliament, served the speaker in that office, he was taken out of execution, by the privilege of the parliament. And further we be informed by our judges, that we at no time stand so highly in our estate royal, as in the time of parliament, wherein we as head, and you as members, are conjoined and knit together into one body politic, so as whatsoever offense or injury (during that time) is offered to the meanest member of the house, is to be judged as done against our person, and the whole court of parliament. Which prerogative of the court is so great (as our learned1 counsel informeth us) as all acts and processes coming out of any other inferior courts must for the time cease and give place to the highest.
[Part omitted]
Whereupon Sir Edward Montacute, lord chief justice, very gravely told his opinion, confirming by divers reasons all that the king had said, which was assented unto by all the residue, none speaking to the contrary. The act indeed passed not the higher house, for the lords had not time to consider of it, by reason of the dissolution of the parliament, the feast of Easter then approaching. Because this case hath been diversely reported, and is commonly alleged as a precedent for the privilege of the parliament; I have endeavoured myself to learn the truth thereof, and so set it forth with the whole circumstance at large according to their instructions, who ought best both to know and remember it.
[Part omitted]
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(1544. 35 Henry VIII. c. 1. 3 S. R. 955.)
WHERE in the parliament held at Westminster the eighth day of June in the twenty-eighth year of the reign of our most dread sovereign lord King Henry the Eighth an act was had and made for the establishment of the succession of the imperial crown of this realm of England, by which act among divers other things it was enacted, that the imperial crown of this realm with all dignities, honours, preeminences, prerogatives, authorities and jurisdictions to the same annexed or belonging should be to the king's majesty and his heirs of his body lawfully begotten, that is to say, to the first son of his body between His Highness and his then lawful wife Queen Jane, now deceased, begotten, and to the heirs of the body of the same first son lawfully begotten, and for default of such heirs, then to the second son of His Highness' body and of the body of the said Queen Jane begotten, and the heirs of the body of the same second son begotten, with divers other limitations of the estates, conveyance and remainders of the said imperial crown and other the premises: and it was also enacted further by the said statute, that for lack of issue of our said sovereign lord the king's body lawfully begotten, that then His Highness should and might give, will, limit, assign, appoint or dispose the said imperial crown and other the premises to what person or persons, and give the same person or persons such estate in the same, as it should please His Majesty by his gracious letters patents under the great seal, or by his last will in writing signed with his most gracious hand; as by the same act divers other things therein contained more at large it doth appear: since the making of which act, the king's majesty hath one only issue of his body lawfully begotten betwixt His Highness and his said late wife Queen Jane, the noble and excellent prince, Prince Edward, whom Almighty God long preserve; and also His Majesty hath now of late, since the death of the said Queen Jane, taken to his wife the most virtuous and gracious Lady Katherine, now queen of England, late wife of John Neville, knight, Lord Latimer deceased, by whom as yet His Majesty hath none issue, but may have full well when it shall please God; and forasmuch as our said most dread sovereign lord the king, upon good and just grounds and causes, intendeth by God's grace to make a voyage royal in His Majesty's most royal person into the realm of France, against his ancient enemy the French king; His Highness most prudently and wisely considering and calling to his remembrance how this realm standeth at this present time in the case of succession, and poising and weighing further with himself the great trust and confidence that his loving subjects have had and have in him, putting in his hands wholly the order and declaration of the succession of this realm; recognizing and acknowledging also that it is in the only pleasure and will of Almighty God how long His Highness or his said entirely beloved son, Prince Edward, shall live, and whether the said prince shall have heirs of his body lawfully begotten or not, or whether His Highness shall have heirs begotten and procreated between His Majesty and his said most dear and entirely beloved wife Queen Katherine that now is, or any lawful heirs and issues hereafter of his own body begotten by any other his lawful wife; and albeit that the king's most excellent majesty, for default of such heirs as be inheritable by the said act, might by the authority of the said act, give and dispose the said imperial crown and other the premises by his letters patents under his great seal, or by his last will in writing signed with his most gracious hand, to any person or persons of such estate therein as should please His Highness to limit and appoint; yet to the intent that His Majesty's disposition and mind therein should be openly declared and manifestly known and notified, as well to the lords spiritual and temporal as to all other his loving and obedient subjects of this his realm, to the intent that their assent and consent might appear to concur with thus far as followeth of His Majesty's declaration in this behalf; His Majesty therefore thinketh convenient afore his departure beyond the seas, that it be enacted by His Highness with the assent of the lords spiritual and temporal and the commons in this present parliament assembled and by authority of the same, and therefore be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, that in case it shall happen the king's majesty and the said excellent prince his yet only son Prince Edward and heir apparent, to decease without heir of either of their bodies lawfully begotten (as God defend) so that there be no such heir male or female of any of their two bodies, to have and inherit the said imperial crown and other his dominions, according and in such manner and form as in the aforesaid act and now in this is declared, that then the said imperial crown and all other the premises shall be to the Lady Mary, the king's Highness' daughter, and to the heirs of the body of the same Lady Mary lawfully begotten, with such conditions as by His Highness shall be limited by his letters patents under his great seal, or by His Majesty's last will in writing signed with his gracious hand; and for default of such issue the said imperial crown and other the premises shall be to the Lady Elizabeth, the king's second daughter, and to the heirs of the body of the said Lady Elizabeth lawfully begotten, with such conditions as by His Highness shall be limited by his letters patents under his great seal, or by His Majesty's last will in writing signed with his gracious hand; anything in the said act made in the said twenty-eighth year of our said sovereign lord to the contrary of this act notwithstanding.
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IV. Provided alway that if the said Lady Mary do not keep and perform such conditions as shall be limited and appointed to her said estate in the said imperial crown and other the premises as is aforesaid, and the said Lady Elizabeth being then dead without any heir of her body lawfully begotten, that then and from thenceforth for lack of heirs of the several bodies of the king's majesty and the said lord prince lawfully begotten, the said imperial crown and other the premises shall be, come and remain to such person and persons and of such estate and estates as the king's highness by his letters patents sealed under his great seal, or by his last will in writing signed with His Majesty's hand shall limit and appoint.
V. Provided always and be it enacted by authority aforesaid, that in case the king's majesty do not declare and limit by his letters patents or by his last will in form as is aforesaid any condition to the estates and interests afore limited to the said Lady Mary and Lady Elizabeth, nor to the estate or interest of any of them, that then every such of the said Lady Mary and Lady Elizabeth, to whose estate or interest no condition shall be limited by the king s majesty in form aforesaid, shall have and enjoy such interest, estate and remainder in the said imperial crown and other the premises as is before limited by this act, without any manner of condition; anything in this present act to the contrary thereof notwithstanding.
VI. And forasmuch as it standeth in the only pleasure and will of Almighty God, whether the king's majesty shall have any heirs begotten and procreated between His Highness and his said most entirely beloved wife Queen Katherine, or by any other his lawful wife, or whether the said prince Edward shall have issue of his body lawfully begotten, or whether the Lady Mary and Lady Elizabeth or any of them shall have any issue of any of their several bodies lawfully begotten, and if such heirs should fail (which God defend) and no provision made in the king's life who should govern this realm for lack of such heirs as in this present rule and act is afore mentioned, that then this realm after the king's transitory life and for lack of such heirs, should be destitute of a lawful governor to order, rule and govern the same; be it therefore enacted by the authority of this present parliament, that the king's Highness shall have full power and authority to give, dispose, appoint, assign, declare and limit, by his gracious letters patents under his great seal, or else by His Highness' last will made in writing and signed with his most gracious hand, at his only pleasure from time to time hereafter, the imperial crown of this realm and all other the premises, to be, remain, succeed and come, after his decease and for lack of lawful heirs of either of the bodies of the king's Highness and Prince Edward begotten, and also for lack of lawful heirs of the bodies of the said Lady Mary and Lady Elizabeth to be procreated and begotten as is afore limited in this act, to such person or persons in remainder or reversion as shall please His Highness, and according to such estate and after such manner and form, fashion, order or condition as shall be expressed, declared, named and limited in His Highness' letters patents, or by his last will in writing signed with his most gracious hand as is afore said; anything contained in this present act or in the said former act to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding.
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(1544. 35 Henry VIII. c. 2. 3 S. R. 958.)
FORASMUCH as some doubts and questions have been moved, that certain kinds of treasons, misprisions and concealments of treasons, done, perpetrated or committed out of the king's majesty's realm of England and other His Grace's dominions, cannot nor may by the common laws of this realm be inquired of, heard and determined within this his said realm of England; for a plain remedy, order and declaration therein to be had and made, be it enacted by authority of this present parliament, that all manner of offences being already made or declared, or hereafter to be made or declared by any the laws and statutes of this realm, to be treasons, misprisions of treasons or concealments of treasons, and done, perpetrated or committed or hereafter to be done, perpetrated or committed by any person or persons out of this realm of England, shall be from henceforth inquired of heard and determined before the king's justices of his bench for pleas to be held before himself by good and lawful men of the same shire where the said bench shall sit and be kept, or else before such commissioners and in such shire of the realm as shall be assigned by the king's majesty's commission, and by good and lawful men of the same shire; in like manner and form to all intents and purposes as if such treasons, misprisions of treasons or concealments of treasons had been done, perpetrated and committed within the same shire where they shall be so inquired of heard and determined as is aforesaid.
II. Provided always that if any the peers of this realm shall happen to be indicted of any such treason or other offences aforesaid by authority of this act, that then after such indictment they shall have their trial by their peers in such like manner and form as hath heretofore been accustomed.
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