ERRATA, ETC. p. 119, 1. 2, for professor' read 'reader.' p. 119, 1. 10, for 'senis' read 'senex.' pp. 151 and 177. I have omitted to notice that on the death of bishop Gardiner, in 1555, Dr Mowse was a second time elected to the mastership of Trinity Hall, a fact which becomes necessary to explain his second expulsion p. 257, n. 1, for '1833' read' 1633.' p. 293, 1. 11, for '1582' read '1583.' p. 347, n. 2, ‘found no corroboration,'—see however p. 505, n. 5. p. 349. To references here given with respect to proceedings against Peter Baro, add Heywood and Wright, Cambridge Proceedings during the Puritan p. 470. Tho. Morton (bishop of Peterborough),' for 'Peterborough' read Durham.' p. 498. Cowell's original manuscript of the Interpreter, interleaved for He maintains that tyrants are to be resisted even with force Alarm of the university authorities The works of Paraeus are condemned at both universities, and subsequently burnt at Oxford, Cambridge, and Death of Paracus Critical state of affairs at Emmanuel College It is proposed that Chaderton shall retire and Preston be ap- CHAPTER I. FROM THE ROYAL INJUNCTIONS OF 1535 TO THE FOUNDATION OF TRINITY COLLEGE. elected THE destinies of learning in England, in the year with CHAP. I. which the preceding volume closes, must have seemed to depend on the decisions of a single mind. It illustrates the completeness of the revolution that was impending in the domain both of letters and of belief, that it was the newly- Cromwell elected chancellor of the university who sent his predecessor chancellor to the scaffold. Months before his purpose found its ac- university. complishment on Tower Hill, an entry among Cromwell's private memoranda,-Item: when Master Fisher shall to his execution?'-had recorded his stern and relentless design. Cambridge, by the general admission, had stood honourably by her late chancellor', but now that her generous patron was no more, the instinct of self-preservation became 1 Fuller (ed. Prickett and Wright, P. 215) says that Fisher continued to be chancellor to his last hour,' that is, to June 22, 1535, and the lists which represent Cromwell as created chancellor in 1533 are certainly in error (see Cooper, Annals, 1371, note 5). Had this,' continues Fuller, 'been imitated in after ages, Cambridge had not been charged with the suspicion of ingratitude, for deserting some of her patrons as soon M. II. as greatness deserted them; as choos- 1 of the His claims to this distinction, as compared with those chancellors. CHAP. I. paramount. 'The university,' says Lloyd, 'made Cromwell chancellor to save itself'.' Already Master of the Rolls, chancellor of the exchequer, and secretary of state, the of preceding signs of his growing power were such as none might safely disregard; although his claims, in other respects, might hardly have seemed to entitle him to this new distinction. Hitherto it had been deemed essential that the head of the university should have acquired a certain academic status or that he should represent the name and influence of some noble and powerful house. To the latter class belonged the Percys and the Fitz-Hughs; to the former, such men as Thomas Rotheram, who was not only the son of a knight but also a fellow of King's and at the time of his first election, in 1469, bishop of Rochester,-Thomas Cosyn (1490), master of Corpus,-and Thomas Ruthill (1503), the same whose incaution when lord keeper of the privy seal had betrayed to the royal eyes the record of his inordinate wealth, and who, at the time of his election, was archdeacon of Gloucester and in high repute at Oxford for his attainments in philosophy; Fisher, when already Margaret professor and master of Michaelhouse, had succeeded to the chancellorship and the bishopric of Rochester in the same year. Their newly-elected successor, on the other hand, was a man of humble origin, according to common report, the son of a blacksmith, and one whose early experiences had been gained in the licence of the camp rather than in the discipline of the schools. He seems first to have come prominently into public notice by his energy in carrying out Wolsey's plans for the suppression of the smaller monasteries and by the ability he evinced in the task of applying their revenues to the use of his patron's foundations at Oxford and Ipswich. But the prevalent impression of his character at this time appears to have been that of a clever and not very scrupulous adventurer in whom the king had recognised a fit instrument for his bold designs in asserting his independence of Rome. Lukewarmness as a friend or a patron was not among 1 State Worthies, p. 61. age of Edward Fox. Cromwell's defects, and already two of the most eminent CHAP. I. Cambridge men of the day had reaped the advantage of his personal good will. Edward Fox, of King's College, of whose His patronabilities he had already had personal experience as his Latimer and coadjutor in the organisation of Wolsey's foundations, was raised in September to the see of Hereford, notwithstanding that he had been prominent among the opponents of the royal divorce; and Latimer, who was perhaps Cromwell's most trusted friend, succeeded a few weeks earlier to the bishopric of Worcester'. They were both men well qualified for carrying out the work which Henry and his minister had in view. Fox's dexterity in debate and unrivalled oratorical powers had already, according to one writer, made him the 'wonder of the university'. His genius however inclined him rather to the stirring arena of political life, and before the end of the year he was on his way to Smalcald, together with Heath and Barnes, deputed to warn the assembled princes against the lures of both pope and emperor; while Latimer, a few months later, in his memorable sermons before Convocation, was making the ears of men tingle with his satire and denunciation of the old abuses and his stirring appeals for reform both in doctrine and practice. between the the uni versity. The new chancellor's connexion with Cambridge was of Disputes but recent date,-apparently not earlier than the year 1532. town and At that time the chronic strife between university and town had risen to a point which led the former to make application to the Crown for assistance in the defence of its prescriptive rights, and Cromwell, then the royal secretary, had listened favourably to the petition. The university, to mark their sense of his good offices, had bestowed on him a complimentary pension for life, and two years later, on the decease of their high steward, lord Mountjoy (Erasmus's old pupil), had elected him to the vacant office. To the additional distinction now conferred upon him by his election to the dignity of chancellor, Cromwell responded by measures which afford a good illustration of his consummate skill and tact in winning popular support. The feud with the townspeople 1 Cooper, Athenae, 1 531. 2 Lloyd, State Worthies, p. 89. |