MarginaliaAn. 1556. March.consecration tooke two solemne othes for your due obedience to be geuen to the sea of Rome to become a true Preacher or Pastor of hys flocke, yet contrary to your othe and allegiance for vnitye, haue sowed discord: for chastity, mariage and adultery: for obedience, contention: and for fayth, ye haue bene the author of all mischiefe. The Popes holynes considering their request and petition, hath graunted them, that according to the censure of thys Realme, processe shoulde bee made agaynst you.
[Back to Top]And whereas in thys late tyme you both excluded charity and iustice, MarginaliaThe Popes charity and iustice to the Archbishop.yet hath his holynes decreed, that you shall haue both charity & iustice shewed vnto you. He willeth ye should haue the lawes in most ample maner to aunswer in your behalf, & that ye shal here come before my Lord of Glocester as hygh Cōmissioner frō hys holynes, to the examination of such articles as shall be proposed agaynst you, and that we should requyre the examination of you in the king and Queenes maiesties behalfe. The king and Queene as touching them selues, because by the law they cannot appeare personally, Quia sunt illustris. personæ,
Quia sunt illustris. personae Not translated. Because they are very illustrious persons.
Thus when D. Martin had ended his Oration, the Archbyshop begynneth, as here foloweth.
Cran. Shall I then make myne aunswere?
Mart. As you thinke good: no man shall let you.
And here the Archbyshop kneelyng downe on both knees toward the West, sayd first the Lordes Prayer. Then rising vp, hee reciteth the Articles of the Crede. Which done, he entreth with his protestatiō in forme as followeth.
MarginaliaThe profession or protestatiō of Doctour Cranmer, before the Cōmissioners.THis I do professe as touchyng my faith, and make my protestatiō, which I desire you to note. I wil neuer consent that the Byshop of Rome shall haue any iurisdiction within this Realme.
Story. Take a note therof.
Mart. Marke M. Cranmer, how you aunswere for your self. You refuse and deny him, by whose lawes ye yet do remayne in lyfe, beyng otherwise atteynted of high treason, and but a dead man by the lawes of this Realme.
Cran. I protest before God I was no traitour, but in deede I confessed more at my arraynement then was true.
Mart. That is not to be reasoned at this present. You know ye were cōdemned for a traitour, and Res iudicata pro veritate accipitur.
Res iudicata pro veritate accipitur. Not translated. The adjudged matter is accepted as the truth.
Cran. I will neuer cōsent to the Byshop of Rome, for then should I geue my selfe to the deuill: for I haue made an othe to the kyng, and I must obey the kyng by Gods lawes. By the Scripture the kyng is chief, and no foreine person in his owne Realme aboue him. There is no subiect but to a king. I am a subiect, I owe my fidelitie to the crowne. The Pope is contrary to the crowne. I can not obey both: for no man can serue two masters at once, as you in the beginnyng of your Oration declared by the sword and the keyes, attributyng the keyes to the Pope, and the sword to the kyng. But I say the kyng hath both. MarginaliaCauses alleaged why D. Cranmer cannot receiue the Pope.Therfore he that is subiect to Rome and the lawes of Rome, he is periured, for the
[Back to Top]Popes and the iudges lawes are contrary, they are vncerteine and confounded.
MarginaliaThe lawes of this realme and the Pope contrary.A Priest indetted, by the lawes of the Realme shall be shued before a temporall iudge: by the Popes lawes contrary.
The Pope doth the kyng iniury in that he hath hys power from the Pope. The kyng is head in his owne Realme: but the Pope claimeth all Bishops, Priestes, Curates. &c. So the Pope in euery Realme hath a Realme.
Agayne by the lawes of Rome the benefice must be geuē by the Byshop: by the lawes of the Realme, the patron geueth þe benefice. Herein the lawes be as contrary as fire and water.
No mā can by the lawes of Rome procede in a premunire, and so is the law of the Realme expelled, and the kyng standeth accursed in mainteinyng his owne lawes. Therefore in consideration that the Kyng and Queene take their power of him, as though GOD should geue it to them, there is no true subiect vnlesse he be abrogate, seyng the crowne is holden of him beyng out of the Realme.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaThe popes procedings contrary to God.The Bishop of Rome is contrary to God, and iniurious to his lawes: for God commaunded all men to be diligent in the knowledge of his law, and therfore hath appointed one holiday in the Weeke at the least, for the people to come to the church and heare þe word of God expounded vnto them, and that they might the better vnderstand it, to heare it in their mother toung which they know. The Pope doth cōtrary: for he willeth the seruice to be had in the latin toung, which they do not vnderstand. God would haue it to be perceaued: the Pope will not. When the Priest geueth thankes God would that the people should do so to, and God will them to confesse altogether: the Pope will not.
[Back to Top]Now, as concerning the Sacrament, I haue taught no false doctrine of the Sacrament of the aultar: MarginaliaThe real presence not to be proued by any Doct. aboue a 1000. yeares after Christ.For if it can be proued by any Doctour aboue 1000. yeares after CHRIST, that CHRISTES body is there really, I wil giue ouer. My boke was made seuē yeares ago,
I.e., Thomas Cranmer, A defence of the true and catholike doctrine of thesacrament of the body and bloud of Christ (London: 1550), STC 6000.
Now, CHRIST commaunded all to drynke of the Cup. The Pope taketh it away from the lay men: & yet one sayth that if CHRIST had dyed for the Deuil, that he should drinke thereof.
CHRIST byddeth vs to obey the kyng, etiam discolo.
etiam discolo Not translated. even if he were in a bad temper servi subditi in omni timore dominis non tantum bonis et modestis sed etiam discolis. [Cranmer may be thinking of this passage in I Peter, but is there possibly an allusion to Terence's playDyskolos, 'The Bad Tempered Man'?]
He is lyke the Deuill in hys doyngs, for the Deuill sayd to CHRIST: if thou wilt fall downe and worship me, I wil geue thee all the kingdomes of the world. Thus hee tooke vppon hym to geue that which was not hys owne. MarginaliaThe Pope likened to the deuill, and wherin.Euen so the Bishop of Rome geueth Princes their Crownes being none of his owne: for where Princes eyther by election, eyther by succession, either by inheritage obtayn their Crowne, he sayth that they should haue it from hym.
[Back to Top]CHRIST saith that Antichrist shall be. And who shal he be? Forsoth hee that aduaunceth himselfe aboue all other creatures. MarginaliaThe Pope proued Antichrist.Now, if there be none already that hath aduaunced hymselfe after such sorte besydes the Pope, then in the meane tyme let hym be Antichrist.
Story. Pleaseth it you to make an end.
Cranmer. For he wyll be the Vicar of CHRIST, he will dispense with the old and new Testament also, yea and wyth Apostacy.
Now I haue declard why I can not wyth my conscience obey the Pope. I speake not thys for hatred I beare to hym that nowe supplyeth the roome, for I