As for Hooper, when he appeared not before the Commissioners, and contumaciously sent no proctor, he was in the Fleet. Thither he had been committed, after being twice before the Council, who had sent for him from his diocese: and with him was conjoined Coverdale of Exeter, who was summoned at the same time and likewise put in prison. The business for which they were troubled is said by their biographers to have been religion: but it seems rather to have been their debts to the Crown:* and it is probable that the prothough he were in his diocese, admiring the man, and dissembling his anger." He also admits that "the stern and cruel" Gardiner concealed the enmity that lurked within his vulpine heart against his former antagonist in the question of pronouncing Greek; and, hypocritically, did him good rather than harm. Life of Smith, ch. vi. Smith, to begin his injuries, laid himself open by his contumacy towards the Commission that we are considering, and was not called to account for it. * The entries in the Council Book are: 22 Aug. "Two several letters to Miles Coverdale and John Hooper, clerks, for their undelayed repair unto the court, where to attend upon the lords of the Council." 29 Aug. "John Hooper, Bp. of Gloucester, made this day his personal appearance." (The Council was at Richmond: Tunstall and Gardiner were present.) 30 Aug. appearance." "Miles Coverdale, Bp. of Exeter, made this day his personal I Sept. "This day appeared before the lords, John Hooper, Bp. of Gloucester, and Miles Coverdale, Bp. of Exeter. And the said Hooper, for considerations the Council moving, was sent to the Fleet. And the said Coverdale commanded to attend until the lords' pleasure be further known." (Both Tunstall and Gardiner were present.) As for the business on which they were called up, Fox says of Hooper, "When he was called before them, Winchester by and by received him very opprobriously, and railing and rating of him, accused him of religion. He again freely and boldly told his tale, and purged himself. But in fine it came to this conclusion that by them he was committed to ward, it being declared unto him at his departure that the cause of his imprisonment was only for certain sums of money for which he was indebted to the Queen, and not for religion. This how false and untrue it was, shall in his place more plainly appear." Certainly there was no love lost between Gardiner and Hooper, the latter in a letter written long afterwards from prison calling the former " God's enemy and mine. Fox brings no proof of the falsity of Hooper's alleged debt to the Queen, except this very letter, in which Hooper says that the Queen owes him eighty pounds, having kept " ceedings against them had their beginning in the late reign, during the financial enquiries that were instituted in the last year of Edward. To these defaulters may be added, perhaps, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, Barlow. At least Barlow was sent to the Tower about this time: and Barlow's debts to the Crown seem to have been great. him in prison eighteen months without maintenance. This touches not the question. On the other hand, Fox supplies a narrative of the visit of a French friar to Hooper in prison, which makes against himself: for Hooper acknowledged to the friar that he was in prison "for debt," and not for heresy. As for Coverdale, he was released in two years, on the application of the King of Denmark, whose chaplain had married the sister of his wife; but the Queen maintained the justice of his imprisonment, and that the cause of it was debt. Fox gives the letters that passed. The more modern biographers of these two prelates take the view that the alleged debts were a mere pretence. Hooper "was received by Gardiner with taunts and insults on account of his religion but as the laws of persecution were not yet revived, he was detained on a false pretence of his being indebted to the queen.' Nevison, in Park. Society's Later Writings of Hooper, p. xxii. So of Coverdale: "the queen pretended that he was not detained on grounds of religion, but for a personal debt due to her majesty." Biog. in Remains, p. xiv. As to this latter case, Strype says that the first fruits had been forgiven to Coverdale by King Edward : and it must have been about the tenths that he was troubled. (v. 240.) No doubt it was. The following document, hitherto unpublished, shows both cases, and proves that, whether from their own fault or not, Coverdale, Hooper, and Barlow owed more to the Crown than the other bishops. Barlow was sent to the Tower on Sept. 15. Grey Friars' Chron. 84. The Bishop of Chester, Bird, will be seen also to have been deep in debt: but he seems to have been specially pardoned. (See Rymer, xv. 306.) Arrears of the Tenths and subsidies of the Clergy, due by divers bishops hereafter ensuing at or before the feast of the Nativity of our Lord God last past, and collected of the clergy, within their dioceses. July 20, 1554. State Pap. Dom. Mary. Vol. I. The Bishop of Of the 10th there collected by Wm. Troubridge Esq. £ s. d. £ s. d. 7 due anno iiii K. Edw. VI 896 4 21 ... 2353 0 17 1055 13 6 Of the 1oth due dicto anno ... Of the 10th due anno sexto The coronation on October the first, which preceded the meeting of Parliament on October the fifth, was a The Bishop of Of the subsidie there collected by John Payne ... due anno quinto predicto Bath & Wells. 668 19 111118 12 7 449 12 £69 paid into the treasury 239 0 1312 Of the tenth there due for two years ended anno sex to predicti Regis Edw. VI 671 II 2 (Of the tenths there due an no quinto predicti Reg. ... Of the tenths due anno sex- 910 12 1 42 6 21 420 4 63 377 18 3 Over and above 266 13 4 thereof primo ... Of the tenths and subsidies ... ... quinto predicti regis ... Of the tenth there due anno ... Of the tenths there due pre- Of the tenths there due eo- 756 12 3 no sexto ejusdem nuper magnificent ceremony, adorned by curious pageants, and by the splendid rites of the Latin service; which was boldly performed in Westminster in spite of the law. The lady Anne of Cleves and the lady Elizabeth rode together in the same chariot: ten bishops in mitres with crosiars went before the Queen, who was supported to the throne by the Bishop of Durham: the place of an archbishop was taken by the episcopal Chancellor; and in a sermon on the obedience due to princes the Bishop (Of the tenth and subsidy due predic. Reg. Edw. VI ... 343 5 4 493 18 7 Of the tenth due predicto The Dean and (Of the tenth there due an Chapter of Rochester. no sexto predicti nuper 210 12 8 For which sum the collector standeth in a petition to be allowed for the fall of the money. 99 4 10 Regis * of Chichester exerted his acknowledged eloquence. But the secret compact or understanding with the papacy lay beneath the solemn observances of that day: the wistful Cranmer heard in his prison the rumour that the Queen had taken oath not only to preserve the rights and liberties of the realm, but also to maintain the see of Rome : and this has been confirmed by modern research: for it seems that Mary sent to Rome a copy of her coronation oath with the petition that she might receive her crown without sin, and that without sin it might be placed on her head, even though the kingdom were not yet absolved.† The religious troubles that had been begun were continued, when from the general pardon, which was read by Gardiner, there were excepted all prisoners in the Tower and the Fleet, some in the Marshalsea, some who had been ordered to keep their houses, and some others: that is, all the prisoners of religion. + * "Her highness the day of her coronation, at which time she took an oath to observe all the laws and liberties of this realm of England, at the same time took also an oath to the Bishop of Rome, and promised to maintain that see." Cranmer's Exam, bef. Brooks: in Todd, ii 247: or Cranm. Remains. + "She charged me to send an express to his right reverend lordship (Pole) to reach him before the day of the coronation, that she might have her conscience at ease and believe herself absolved—and her Ma. wished the Bp. of Winchester who was to crown her, and the few other Catholics there, also to be absolved, that they might be able to say mass and administer the sacraments without sin, until able to have the general absolution. Her Ma. gave me the copy of the oath taken by her at the coronation, which she had thoroughly considered beforehand, and added a few words having for object to maintain her integrity and good will, as may be seen by the identical copy." Report to the pope by messenger from England, Oct. 1553. Ven. Cal. p. 430. Perhaps if the oath were found, it would be discovered to contain some of Gardiner's safeguards of the realm. It should be noticed that she sent the oath, not to be submitted to be approved for a coming occasion, but after she had used it. Chron. of Queen Jane and Mary, p. 31; Stow; Holinshed: Strickland. In Fox's account of Sandys it is said that on that day by accident or design the Tower was left open and unguarded, and all the prisoners might have escaped. |