Francis Gasquet - The Eve of the Reformation

J. Venn, Gonville and Caius College (1349-1897), Vol. I.

Ibid., p. xvi.

Ibid., p. 18.

Ibid., p. 23.

Ibid., p. 21.

Ibid., p. xviii.

Sermons (1557), f. 54.

A. Chalmers, History of the Colleges, &c. of Oxford , ii. p. 351.

Hearne, John of Glastonbury , ii. p. 490; from MS. Cott. Vitellius c. vii.

Saint-German was born 1460. He was employed by Thomas Cromwell on some business of the State, and died in 1540. The Dyalogue was printed apparently first in Latin, but subsequently in English. It consisted of three parts (1) published by Robert Wyer, (2) by Peter Treveris, 1531, and (3) by Thomas Berthalet, also in 1531.

Dyalogue , ut sup. , 3rd part, f. 2.

One of the first Acts of King Henry VII. on his accession, was to obtain from the Pope a Bull agreeing to some changes in the Sanctuary customs. Prior Selling of Canterbury was despatched as King’s Orator to Rome with others to Pope Innocent VIII. in 1487, and brought back the Pope’s approval of three points in which the king proposed to change these laws. First , that if any person in Sanctuary went out at night and committed mischief and trespass, and then got back again, he should forfeit his privilege of Sanctuary. Secondly , that though the person of a debtor might be protected in Sanctuary, yet his goods out of the precincts were not so protected from his creditors. Thirdly , that where a person took Sanctuary for treason, the king might appoint him keepers within the Sanctuary.

Robert Keilway, Relationes quorundam casuum , f. 188, seqq.

Dyalogue , ut sup. , f. 12.

Dyalogue , f. 23.

Ibid.

Ibid., f. 23.

Ibid., f. 21.

Ibid., f. 21.

A treatyse concerning the power of the clergie and the laws of the realme. London, J. Godfray.

A treatyse , &c., ut supra , cap. 4.

A treatyse , &c., ut supra , cap. xii.

A treatyse , &c., ut supra , cap. xii.

Ibid., cap. xiii.

Ibid., cap. vi.

English Works (ed. 1557), p. 1017.

A treatyse , &c., ut sup. , cap. vi., sig. E. i.

Salem and Bizance, a dialogue betwixte two Englishmen, whereof one was called Salem and the other Bizance (Berthelet, 1533), f. 76.

Ibid., f. 84.

English Works , p. 892.

Ibid.

A Dialogue , &c., ut sup. , f. 8.

Ibid., f. 11.

Ibid., f. 14.

A Dialogue , &c., ut sup. , p. 17.

History of English Law , i., p. 93-4. Mr. James Gairdner, in a letter to The Guardian , March 1, 1899, says: “There were, in the Middle Ages, in every kingdom of Europe that owned the Pope’s jurisdiction, two authorities, the one temporal and the other spiritual, and the head of the spiritual jurisdiction was at Rome. The bishops had the rule over their clergy, even in criminal matters, and over the laity as well in matters of faith. Even a bishop’s decision, it is true, might be disputed, and there was an appeal to the Pope; nay, the Pope’s decision might be disputed, and there was an appeal to a general council. Thus there was, in every kingdom, an imperium in imperio , but nobody objected to such a state of matters, not even kings, seeing that they could, as a rule, get anything they wanted out of the Popes – even some things, occasionally, that the Popes ought not to have conceded.”

William Bond, The Pilgrymage of perfeccyon , 1531, f. 223.

Roger Edgworth, Sermons , 1557, fol. 102

Edward Powell, Propugnaculum summi sacerdotii, &c., adversus M. Lutherum , 1523, fol. 22 and fol. 35.

English Works , p. 171.

Ibid. p. 185.

Ibid., p. 528.

Ibid., p. 538.

English Works , p. 616.

Ibid., p. 798.

Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries (popular edition), p. 367.

In his work against Luther, Bishop Fisher teaches the supremacy of the Pope without any ambiguity. In the Sermon had at Paulis against Luther and his followers, he also put his position perfectly clearly. The Church that has a right to the name Catholic has derived the right from its communion with the See of Peter. Our Lord called Cephas, Peter, or rock, to signify that upon him as a rock He would build His church. Unto Peter He committed His flock, and “the true Christian people which we have at this day was derived by a continual succession from the See of Peter” (fol. e. 4. d.).

Simon Matthew, Sermon made in the Cathedrall Church of Saynt-Paule, 27 June 1535 (Berthelet, 1535).

Joannis Longlondi Tres conciones (R. Pynson), f. 45.

Assertion of the Seven Sacraments against Luther (translation by J. W., 1687), f. a. i.

A treatise of the donation or gift and endowment of possessions given (by Constantine) with the judgement of certain great men , 1517, Thomas Godfray.

London, Thomas Berthelet.

A dyalogue , ut sup. , ff. 3-7.

f. A. ii.; c. i.; c. iiij. The author recommends those who would understand the Pope’s power to “resort unto The glasse of truth or to the book named the Determinations of the universities .” The book named here A glasse of truth is written in favour of the divorce. “Some lawyers,” the author says, “attribute too much to the Pope – at length there shall be no law, but only his will.” The work was published by Berthelet anonymously, but Richard Croke, in a letter written at this period (Ellis, Historical Letters , 3rd series, ii. 195), says that the book was written by King Henry himself. It was generally said that Henry had written a defence of his divorce; but Strype did not think it was more than a State paper. Croke (p. 198) says that people at Oxford, “Mr. John Roper and others,” did not believe that the king was really the author. He says that the tract has done more than anything else to get people to take the king’s side.