I. then entered into his seventeenth year, and so of more matu- CHAP. rity to set about manly studies, he was removed to Cambridge, and admitted into the college of Corpus Christi and Anno 1520. the Blessed Virgin, now commonly called Bene't college: to which house are appropriated peculiar encouragements for such young men as shall be sent thither from the city of Norwich. There he was at first maintained wholly at his mother's charge. His lodging was in St. Mary Hostle, St. Mary situate within the parish of Great St. Mary's. The title and government of which hostle, though at that distance, belonged to Bene't college, till he afterwards purchased it of the Master and Fellows, as we shall hear hereafter. Through this hostle was a fair way afterwards made to the public schools at the Archbishop's charge, and named Universitystreet, but now commonly called The Regent Walk. Hostle. ceived ho nour from It hath been observed as no small honour and happiness Which reto the University, that Parker, Bacon, and Cecil, were all contemporary here: who afterwards at the same time also him. were all advanced to the highest places and dignities in the kingdom; the one to be Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of all England; the other to be a Privy Counsellor and Lord Keeper of the Great Seal; the third to be Secretary of State and Privy Counsellor also, and High Chancellor of the said University, and not long after Lord High Treasurer of England: "who, as they all at the same time "studied at Cambridge, and flourished in their studies there; "so after, at one time were the chiefest statesmen under "Queen Elizabeth. Grave, wise, and sound in their admin“istrations, and studied to their utmost to be furtherers of "good learning a" But to return to our student. He had the misfortune to be placed under a tutor, one Cooper, of small learning. Yet six months after his admittance, viz. March the 20th, he behaved himself so well, that Made Schohe was chosen a Scholar of the house, called a Bible Clerk; house. * Qui ut eodem tempore Cantabrigiæ omnes studuerunt studiisque floruerunt maxime; ita in administranda rep, sub clementiss. nostra principe Elizabeth, eodem tempore omnes graviter, sane et sapienter præsunt, omnibusque modis prodesse musis student. De Antiq. Cantab. P. 173. lar of the BOOK and setting close to his studies, he employed himself in readI. ing and digesting logic and philosophy, till the year 1523, Anno 1523. when he determined, and took his degree of Bachelor of Arts. Regist. Bachelor of Arts. Anno 1527. Arts, and Fellow. And at the same time two others, that after proved also very eminent for religion, even to the shedding of their bloods for it, commenced the same degree, viz. Bradford and Ridley, both of Pembroke hall. And so also did one Scot, who seems to be he that was afterwards Bishop of Chester, but a zealot on the contrary side. The year following, our Parker was made Subdeacon under the titles of Barnwell and the chapel in Norwich Fields. Anno 1527, in April, he was made Deacon, in June Priest, Master of and in September created Master of Arts, and chose Fellow of the college, being now aged about twenty-four. And minding to inform himself thoroughly in the matters of religion then controverted, he plied the reading over the volumes of the Fathers of the Church, and ecclesiastical writers, becoming an hard student in the sacred science of theology: and that with so great a vehemency of mind, that in a short space he arrived to very considerable knowledge therein, and acquaintance with the truly ancient state and doctrines of the Church. Invited to the Cardinal's college Antiq. Cantab. p. 202. Such notice had been by this time taken of him, that he was one of those in this University that should have gone to at Oxford. Christ's and St. Frideswide's college in Oxford, newly founded by Cardinal Wolsey: for after this house was built, care was taken to furnish it with men of the best parts and learning, to study and read there, and to adorn that magnificent foundation. For which purpose, many scholars of ripe wits and abilities in Cambridge were invited thither, with promise of great encouragement and reward. And this business was committed to Robert Shirton, Master of Pembroke hall. 6 Some went, and some refused. Those that went were, Richard Cox, afterwards Bishop of Ely; John Frier, a learned physician; Henry Sumner, John Clark, excellent divines; William Betts, Nicolas Herman, Richard Taverner, Flor. Dominick, John Drumm, John Akars, John Frith, and some I. others. But Cranmer, afterward Archbishop of Canterbury, CHAP. John Skip, afterward Bishop of Hereford, Walter Haddon, Public Professor of the Civil Law, and our Parker, all then Anno 1533. of great reputation for their wit, learning, authority, or experience, (though these were invited also,) by the persuasion of their friends, went not. Our student therefore stayed where he was, diligently following his studies. famous preacher. So that within five or six years, having read over the Fathers and Councils, being now about nine and twenty years of age, he thought fit to go forth out of his more private retirements, and render himself useful to the world, by preaching the word of God unto the people. And the first Becomes a Sunday in Advent, in the year 1533, he preached his first sermon to the University, being the same year wherein his predecessor Cranmer was made Archbishop. The places where he preached his first sermons, were first at Grantchester, within a mile or two of Cambridge, which belonged to Bene't college; next at Beech, then at St. Benet's, then at Madingly, after that at Barton. So that he preached, and that with good applause, first in the neighbourhood about Cambridge, and in the town, and then afterwards further off, and sometimes in towns and auditories of the greatest eminency and note. And being soon observed for his solid and profitable dispensing of God's word, a thing very rare in those days, Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, granted him a licence to preach throughout his pro- Licensed by vince, and King Henry VIII. a patent for the same: it be- the King and Bishop ing needful at this time to license and encourage such with Cranmer. public countenance and authority, as could and would undeceive the people in the gross and stupid superstitions that then so much prevailed, and in the excessive encroachments of Popes upon the imperial power of the Kings of this land; exalting themselves over them in their own dominions, and commanding the purses of the people, when they pleased. So that our Archbishop was an ancient lover of the Gos- Imbibed the pel, and embraced the profession of it in his younger years when Gospel at Cambridge, when Bilney and Stafford and Arthur were young. there. Besides which most pious and learned men, there I. BOOK were divers others about the same time, and surviving them in the same cause; as Friar Barnes, and Latymer; by whose Anno 1593. means religion and learning (for they went together) did then Bilney. Parker's testimony of him. Fox. The dawning of the begin to flourish exceedingly in that University. And of these in Bene't college were Mr. Fooke and Mr. Soude: from whom our Parker, being a scholar of the same college, may be presumed to have first tasted of the truth. And such was the great veneration he had for the said Bilney, that he travelled to Norwich on purpose to see his martyrdom. And out of the honour he had for his memory, and for the vindicating him from the report that Sir Thomas Moore had given out, that he recanted before his death, and read a scroll of paper at the stake to that effect; the said Parker, when Archbishop, having before been a diligent eye and ear witness, gave a large and distinct account of all particulars relating to him, from his condemnation to his death: asserting also, that he had no such scroll or bill in his hand, neither did read any such recantation. This relation of the Archbishop, Mr. Fox hath preserved in his Martyrology. For Parker's lot was to fall into the University in those Gospel in days, when learning and religion began to dawn there; when Cambridge. divers godly men resorted together for conference sake; who also oftentimes flocked together in open sight, both in the schools, and at sermons in St. Mary's and at St. Augustine's, where Dr. Barnes was Prior, and at other disputations. Of which sort were several; and of these colleges especially : viz. King's college, Queen's college, St. John's, Peter house, Pembroke hall, Gonwell hall, and Bene't college. Their meetings to confer and discourse together for edification in Christian knowledge, were chiefly at an house called The White Horse; which was therefore afterwards nicknamed Germany by their enemies. This house was chose, because they of King's college, Queen's college, and St. John's, might come in with the more privacy at the back door. The names Early pro- of some of these early professors, beside those above-mentioned, were Mr. Cambridge, Mr. Field, Mr. Colman, Mr. 7 Coverdale, BB. D. of the Augustine's, and Mr. Parnel, fessors of it. I. Barnes's scholar; Dr. Farman and Dr. Heins, of Queen's; CHAP Dr. Thistel, or Thixtel, of Pembroke, and Thomas Allen Fellow there, who was present at Bilney's burning. Here Anno 1534. also were Dr. William Turner, Dr. Nicolas Ridley, Dr. Crome, of Christ's college, I think, Dr. Warner, an old acquaintance of, Bilney's at Cambridge, and was with him also at his burning, being then Parson at Winterton, whom Bilney chose to be with him, to comfort him in his extremes; Rodolph Bradford of King's, Dr. Smith of Trinity hall; Simon Smith, Shaxton, Skip, and Segar Nicolson, of Gonvil hall; together with those before mentioned of Bene't college. To which I may add Dr. Edmunds, Master of Peter house, who kept a wife privately, and had a son, if I mistake not much, who was afterwards Mayor of Cambridge, and (somewhat ungratefully) proved a great sider with the Town against the University. Preaches. CHAP. II. His first preferments. Made Queen Anne's Chaplain, and Dean of Stoke college. Some account of it. Preaches before the King. often at BUT to return to our Divine. He was commonly ap- Preaches pointed to preach in the solemn time of Lent in the most Court. public auditories: an office, for which the best-learned preachers were sought out. On this occasion he preached often before King Henry VIII. King Edward VI. and Queen Elizabeth. Nevertheless he was a man of modest manners; and though his learning and abilities were so well known, that he was often solicited to take public places, and to go abroad into the world, and make himself more known, yet he was unwilling to be brought thereunto, affecting an University and close life. His first public sermon was preached at Preaches a Balsham, before the Bishop of Ely in his visitation anno 1534. And when without his seeking, being about thirty visitation sermon. |