Warham. Leo X. held England in connexion with the Roman see. The HENRY VIII. papacy was undisturbed by interual dissensions; heresy, real or supposed, was almost everywhere so far repressed that it did not venture to show itself by open hostility; St. Peter's was rising in unexampled splendour at Rome; nor had the scandalous arts employed to aid its renovation as yet awakened the tones of indignant protest which were destined soon to startle Europe and make Rome tremble. Yet in the religious atmosphere might have been discerned tokens of dubious portent to the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Direct opponents might be comparatively few and despicable; but a change was gradually coming over the spirit of many among the most effective supporters of the papacy. Religious knowledge was daily improving by the wider diffusion of the Scriptures in the mother-tongue, to which the art of printing effectually contributed; and a party, (the Lollards) neither few in number nor wanting in courage, existed in the heart of the kingdom, ready to profit by any occasion which might offer of the opening the eyes of their countrymen. Moreover, learning began to be cultivated more extensively, and the Greek text of the New Testament was especially a subject upon which much attention was bestowed. Herein was manifest the influence of Erasmus, a distinguished scholar, who gained and imparted benefit by frequent residence in the University of Cambridge. To the enlightened Dean of St. Paul's, Dr. John Colet, the founder of St. Paul's school, the cause of sacred *He complained in a sermon of thirst for secular offices manifested the haughtiness, avarice, and by the bishops ani clergy; and the religious state of England at that time. By whom was the cause of sacred literature advanced at Oxford and at Cambridge? *[Note.] State what was the conduct of Dean Colet towards the clergy at this time. Warbam. Leo X. HENRY VIII. literature was indebted for a powerful impulse, for he it was who revived at Oxford the practice of reading lectures upon Scripture, instead of Scotus and Aquinas. At Cambridge, too, a similar course was even more effectually pursued by George Stafford, Divinity lecturer and Fellow of Pembroke Hall, among whose hearers was the martyr, Hugh Latimer. Such were the circumstances connected with religion under which Henry VIII., with all the elements of popularity and power about him, inherited the English throne. Success attended the early years of his reign, in consequence probably of the guidance of his great minister, Cardinal Wolsey. Immunities of the Clergy.) 27. Henry was firmly attached to the Church of Rome, and had indeed acquired a considerable taste for school divinity, his favourite author being Thomas Aquinas. Yet he soon undertook to restrict the privileges of the clergy; for in the year 1515, he put an end for one year A.D. 1515. to the exemption of the inferior orders from being tried in the king's courts in cases of murder and burglary, which had existed for two centuries. This denial of the immunity of Churchmen created violent sensation, being looked upon as an encroachment upon the privileges of the Church. The Abbot of Winchelcomb preached severely against it; and Burnet adds that he followed up declaimed against their ignorance, cation to effect some reformation in them. 27. State the conduct of Henry VIII. upon the privileges of the clergy, and the result of it. What was the object of the Abbot of Winche comb's book on the immunities of the clergy? Give a brief account of the proceedings which immediately followed its publication. What remarkable declaration in con Warham. Leo X. his sermon by a book to prove that all clerks, even of the HENRY VIII. lower orders, were sacred, and could not be judged by the temporal courts; but there is no good authority for Burnet's statement. The abbot's proceedings, however, gave rise to a petition to the king to repress the insolence of the clergy, and the subject was debated by the abbot in favour of, and Dr. Standish, a Franciscan, against the immunities of the clergy. Whichever side had the better argument, the clergy appear to have prevailed, for the law which put an end to the immunity for one year was not renewed. Contests between the ecclesiastical and secular courts ensued, and were embittered by the death of Richard Hunne, a citizen of London, who, having been sued in the legate's court for a mortuary* by his parish priest, took out a writ of præmunire against the prosecutor: This incensed the clergy, and Hunne was imprisoned on a charge of heresy† in the Lollard's tower, at St. Paul's. Shortly afterwards he was found suspended from the ceiling, with marks of violence upon his person, and a coroner's jury brought in a verdict of murder against Dr. Horsley, the Bishop of London's Chancellor. Popular feeling was further exasperated by a sentence of heresy passed against the dead A fee paid to the priest upon | in the flames. In aggravated cases, the death of a parishioner. penitents were branded on the + Lollardism was bitterly per- check with a hot iron; and in secuted about this time. Speak- every case compelled to bear a ing against some popular super- faggot in the Church on some stition, or reading the Bible in holiday procession, or at the English, was sufficient to consign burning of the first heretic, and a a man to prison. A brief exam-representation of it ever after on ination followed, sometimes a conspicuous part of the dress. ending in recantation, sometimes nection with it was pronounced by Henry VIII? [Note.] What is a mortuary? [Note.] Detail the nature of the proceedings against Lollardism in Warham. HENRY VIII. man, and the burning of his body in Smithfield, and the commencement by convocation of an action against Dr. Standish, to whose arguments against their immunities the clergy attributed the step of the coroner's jury. Upon an appeal to the king, it was determined that the convocation had incurred the penalty of a pramunire* and the members, with Wolsey at their head, went and begged the king's pardon on their knees. In answer to the suit of the clergy, the king made this memorable declaration: 66 By the permission of God we are king of England; and the kings of England in times passed had never any superior but God only. Therefore, know you well that we will maintain the right of our crown." Election of } 28. In the early part of the reign of Henry VIII., "the manner of promotion to bishoprics and abbeys," says Burnet, (Corrie's edition, pp. 20, 21,) "was the same that had taken place ever since the investiture by the ring and staff were taken out of the hands of princes. Upon a vacancy, the king seized on all the temporalities, and granted a license for an election, with a special recommendation of the person; which being returned, the royal assent was given, and it was sent to Rome that bulls might be expedited, and then the bishop elect was consecrated; after that he came to the king, and renounced every clause in his bulls that was *This law was passed to re- | vocation was regarded as a papal strict suits and appeals in the court, because it was convened courts of the pope, and the con- | by Wolscy, the papal legate. the reign of Henry VIII. *[Note.] For what purpose was the statute of Præmunire enacted? 28. What was the custom with regard to the election of bishops before the time of Henry VIII. Warham. Leo X. contrary to the king's prerogative, or to the law, and HENRY VIII. swore fealty; and then were the temporalities restored. Nor could bulls be sued out at Rome without a license under the great seal; so that the kings of England had reserved the power to themselves of promoting to ecclesiastical benefices, notwithstanding all the invasions the popes had made on the temporal power of princes." In practice, however, the pope generally overruled the choice of the chapter; and even if he did not change the name recommended by the king, he appointed by his own provision. Pope Leo. X.-) 29. An unwonted diffusion of knowledge, unsettled opinions, and papal profligacy having prepared the way for signal defection from the Roman see, that event was hastened by the infatuation of those most interested in the permanence of existing ecclesiastical establishments. Julius II., who was on the papal throne when Henry VIII. ascended that of England, disturbed Europe by scandalous wars. In the year 1513, he was succeeded by A.D. 1513. John de Medici, under the title of Leo X., a man of accomplishments and refinement, but also of unconquerable indolence and inordinate love of parade. The indulgence of his taste for luxury and magnificence, and the expense incurred in the erection of St. Peter's, drained the papal treasury; and in order to recruit it, he extended the scandalous traffic in indulgences. Tetzel, a Dominican 29. Name the pope at the accession of Henry VIII. By whom was he succeeded? What was the public as well as the private character of Leo X? And what were those acts of his pontificate which did most, either directly or indirectly, to set forward the Reformation? What was the great mission of Tetzel in Germany? How was he received? Where, from whom, and how |