Page images
PDF
EPUB

yow esteme eyther his chartors or your own composition for as yt ys affyrmyd yow wyll neyther take the Vycechauncellor for a Judge yn suche thynges as belonge to hys office ne suffer suche correctyon for offences the punyshement whereof ys appoynted to the sayde Vycr and the Proctors of the sayde unyversytie, as for the same be prescrybed, but yn contempte do many tymes put to lybertie suche prisoners withowte ther consente as they commytt to warde constraynynge scholars to pay tollage whereof ther priveleges dothe thereof dyscharge them whyche thynges bycause I wolde be glad to have by some good manner redubbed betweene yow I thought mete as well tadvyse yow to desyste from suche contentyous foly as to sygnyfye that in case yow shall not permytt the unyversytie to enjoy ther lybertyes but contynew suche contentyon as whereuppon may ensew many ynconveniences troble and empechement to the common quyett of the realme I shall not fayle yn suche wyse to declare your proceedings to the Kynges maiesty as I trust hys Grace shall well see your perverse ynclynatyon yn that behalf requyringe yow to allevyat me of that payne whereyn I thinke yow shall do unto yourselfes no dyspleasure and thus far ye hartely well the xv day of Maii. Your Lovynge freende

THOMAS CROMWELL*.

A LETTER FROM THE UNIVERSITY TO THE KING RESPECTING THE POWER OF THE BISHOP OF ROME.

Invictiss ac potentiss Principi ac domino nostro clementiss Henrico octavo Angliæ et Francia regi Domino Hyberniæ etc. QUOD fælix ac faustum sit et huic florentissimo regno tuo et universo orbi Christiano, Invictissime Princeps ac Domine clementissime, En scripto prodimus ac palam dicimus sententiam nostram in questione illa famosa de romani pontificis potestate;

There is no date of the year to this document. Cromwell was Chancellor of the University from 1533 to 1538.-ED.

Cujus questionis veritatem post maturam et sedulam examinationem ac varias ea de re non uno tempore collocutiones, diligenti tandem scripturarum collatione et perpensione ut nobis videmur emimus et erutam ac Syngrapho expressam, quod sententiæ nostræ et facti certissimus testis fuerit magistati tuæ una cum literis istis nunc mittimus.

Atque hanc sane provinciam, Serenissime Rex, abs tua sublimitate nobis impositam libenter suscepimus partim ob eam quam magistati tuæ debemus fidem ac obedientiam, quibus ullo tempore aut loco deesse nefas maximum putamus, partim ipsius veritatis amore ac studio quam dicere ac prædicare quoties e Christi gloria et reip. christianæ salute ac commodo esse videatur, cum omnium intersit qui christo nomina dederunt atque in illius verba jurarunt tum nostra multo magis referre interesseque videtur, qui quotidie in illius scripturis versamur, quotidie illius verba et voces legimus, qui est ipsa via veritas et vita, quique veritatem custodit in seclum secli; Hujus favorem ac gratiam semper tuæ celsitudini adesse precamur, optamusque, ut nos et Academiam nostram, quæ tuæ semper voluntati fuerit obsequentissima, vicissim sublimitatis tuæ favore prosequi, fovere, atque ornare digneris. Christus servator serenissimam majestatem tuam diutissime servet.

Universis sancta matris ecclesiæ filiis ad quos presentes literæ perventuræ sunt, cætus omnis regentium et non regentium achademiæ Cantabrigiensis salutem, in hominum salvatore Jesu Chro. Cum de romani pontificis potestate, quam et ex sacris scripturis sibi vendicat in omnibus Christianorum provinciis, et in hoc regno Angliæ longo jam temporis tractu exercuit, hisce nunc diebus questio exorta sit, ac nostra de re sententia rogaretur, videlicet, An Romanus Pontifex habeat a deo in scriptura sacra concessam sibi majorem authoritatem et potestatem in hoc regno Angliæ quam quivis alius externus episcopus. Nos æquum esse putavimus ad dictæ quæstionis veritatem eruendam omni studio incumberemus, ac nostram ea de re sententiam ac censuram tandem orbi proferremus: Nempe ad hoc potissimum academias a principibus olim institutas fuisse persuasi, ut et populus Christianus in lege Dei erudiatur et falsi errores, si qui exorirentur, cura et solicitudine doctorum theologorum penitus convelli et profligari possint.

Quamobrem de prædicta quæstione deliberaturi more nostro convenientes ac matura consultatione consilia conferentes, quo modo et ordine ad investigationem veritatis certius procederetur, atque omnium tandem suffragiis selectis quibusdam ex doctissimis sacræ theologiæ professoribus, bacchalaureis, ac aliis magistris, ea cura demandata, ut scrutatis diligentissime sacræ scripturæ locis, illisque collatis, referrent ac renunciarent, quid ipsi dictæ questioni respondendum putarunt, quibus auditis, perpensis, et post publicam super dicta quæstione disputationem matura deliberatione discussis his quæ in quæstione prædicta alterutram partem star tuere aut convellere possent; illa nobis probabiliora, validiora, veriora etiam, et certiora esse, germanum et syncerum scripturæ sensum referre visa sunt; Quæ negant romano pontifici talem potestatem a deo in scriptura datam esse. Illis igitur persuasi et in unam opinionem convenientes ad quæstionem prædictam ita respondendum decrevimus, et in scriptis nomine totius universitatis respondemus, pro conclusione verissimum asserimus: Quod Romanus pontifex non habeat a deo in sacra scriptura concessam sibi majorem auctoritatem ac jurisdictionem in hoc regno Angliæ quam quivis alius episcopus externus. Atque in fidem et testimonium hujusmodi nostræ responsionis et affirmationis his literis sigillum nostrum commune curavimus apponi. Datum Cantabrigiæ in domo nostra regentium secundo die Mensis Maii Anno ab orbe per Chrum redempta Mo. Quingentesimo xxxiiiio. *

Literæ hæ scriptæ a Mago. Daye oratore Academiæ qui post fuit Episcopus Cicestrensis et Reginæ Mariæ ab elemosinis.

[blocks in formation]

• This determination of the University is printed in Harmer's Specimen,

p. 163,-ED.

A LETTER FROM LORD CHANCELLOR AUDELEY, AND A DECISION OF THE KING'S COUNCIL RESPECTING THE PRIVILEGES OF THE UNIVERSITY.

To the Vicechauncellor of Cambridge.

In mine hertie manner I have me commended unto you. Signifying unto the same that my Lorde of Norfolk hath appointed to be at London uppon monday next for the hering and ordering of the mattur in variaunce betwixt the inhabitantes of the towne of

[ocr errors]

Cambridge and the scolers of the same. Wherefore I requier you to repayre to London against the same daye or els send some sufficient persons auctorized for the same. Trusting that we shall indeavour our selffes to put some good ordre and direction in the variaunce bytwene you. And thus hartely Fare ye well from London the xiii day of July.

Your Frend

THOMAS AUDELEY Ld. Chauncelor.

Anno Doi. 1534. 24 die Julii in die Veneris. D. EDMONDES and J. W. BUCKMASTER messyngers sente from thuniversity to procure and set forthe ther cause and sute agaynste the townesmen concerning our priveleges whose proctors wer Mers. BROKYN, SLEGGE, R. CHAPMAN, and JOHN CHAPMAN the Myller, Aldermen of Cambridge. We met at Lambeth bifore my LORDE CHAUNCELLOR and my LORDE OF CANTERBURY with the DUKE OF NORFOLKE: ther wer presente besydes my LORDE MARQUES OF EXCYTER, the DEANE OF THE CHAPELI D. SAMPSON, and the KINGES ALMNER D. Fox, D. THYRLEBY and D. HAYNES. Wheare it was decrede by the saide Lordes that Styrbridge Faire was in the subarbes of Cambridge and that the Vicechancellor or his commyssary might kepe courte cyvyll ther for plees wheare a scolar was the one party.

Item that in the same faire thuniversity had the oversight correction and punyshemente of all weightes and mesures of all maner of victayll, of all Regraters and Forestallers.

Item. It was determyned that spices be vytaill.

A LETTER FROM QUEEN JANE SEYMOUR TO THE UNIVERSITY, ACQUAINTING THEM WITH THE BIRTH OF A PRINCE.

Welbelovyd in God we grete yow well, And forasmoche as by thestymable goodnes and grace of allmyghty God we be delyvered and browght in chylde bed of a prinse* conceyved in most lawfull matrimonie between my lorde the kynges maiestye and us dowbtyng not butt that for the love and affection whyche ye beare unto us and to the commynwealth of thys realme the knowledge thereof shulde be ioyeus and glad tydynges unto yow, we have thowght mete to certifye yow of the same to thyntente ye myght not only render unto God condynge thanks and prayse for so greate a benyfyte but allso contynually pray for the longe contynuance and preservation of the same here in this lyffe to thonour of God the ioye and pleasure of my lorde the Kynge and us and thuniversall weale quyet and tranquylyte of thys hole realme geven under our Sygnet at my Lordes manour of Hampton courte the xii day of October.

A LETTER CONCERNING THE MUSTERING OF THE UNIVERSITY. A letter sent from my lorde of Wynchester and other of the counsell unto Mr. Hynde and other of thaldermen of the towne of Cambri. the yeare and moneth aforeseyde. ao 1542 mense Septembr.

After our harty commendatyons Where yow lately receavyd a commission for the mustering of Cambrygeshyre understondyng that yow mynde by virtue of the same commission to muster the scholars of thunyversitie, we have thowght mete tadvertise yow that the Kynges maiestyes pleasure ys that yow shall not meddle with them but procede to the mustering of the shere accordyng to the sayde commission without any your interuptyon of them yn thys behalfe, And for as muche as the lyk question hath not

This Prince was afterwards King Edward VI., born xii Oct. 1537; the Queen his mother died twelve days after his birth.-ED.

« PreviousContinue »