Calendar of State Papers, Foreign: Elizabeth Volume 1 1559
Calendar of State Papers, Foreign: Elizabeth Volume 1 1559 is in Calendar of State Papers, Foreign: Elizabeth Volume 1.
01 Sep 1559. Alexander Ales to the Queen.
1. Congratulates her upon her accession to the throne by the "senatus consultum" of the realm, and the consent of all orders, she being the true posterity of the families of the White and Red Roses, the sole daughter of Henry VIII., and his lawful and undoubted heir. Although the joy which the intelligence of her accession occasioned to all the English, Scotch, French, and Belgian exiles (driven from their home for the confession of the pure doctrine of the Gospel), has already been made know to her by the churches of Frankfort on the Maine and Strasburg upon their return into Britain, yet he considers that the duty of conveying this intelligence belongs more especially to himself, England having afforded him an asylum at the time when he was summoned to teach in the University of Cambridge during the lifetime of her most pious mother. He is persuaded that all ranks will rejoice at her accession. After referring to various characters and incidents in the Old Testament history as illustrative of his warning, he assures her that he believes that she prayed with Esther when she saw her father's kingdom transferred to strangers, and the Archbishop of Canterbury killed like Abimelech the High Priest, by Doeg. She had been exposed like a second Esther to the dangers of a violent death in her sister's Court, because, like Mardocheus and the Jewish nation, she professed the same religion as the martyrs did, following herein the example of her mother.
He then proceeds as follows:
2. "I am persuaded that the true and chief cause of the hatred, the treachery, and the false accusations laid to the charge of that most holy Queen, your most pious mother, was this, that she persuaded the King to send an embassy into Germany to the Princes who had embraced the Gospel. If other arguments of the truth of this were wanting, a single one would be sufficient, namely that before the embassy had returned, the Queen had been executed.
3. "On account of this embassy, the Emperor Charles, (who formerly had been so hostile to your most serene father, with whom he had a suit before the Pope and the Papal Legate in England, Campegio, on account of his aunt, Queen Catherine, whom the King had divorced, and because he had married your mother, and honoured her with the regal crown,) most grievously threatened the Princes of Germany who were associated in the defence of the Gospel.
4. "It was chiefly on account of this embassy that he prepared for hostilities, and invoked the aid of the Pope, King Ferdinand, the nobles of Italy, Spain, Hungary, Bohemia, Lower Germany, and other nations.
5. "On account of this embassy all the Bishops who were opposed to the purer doctrine of the Gospel and adhered to the Roman Pontiff, entered into a conspiracy against your mother.
6. "And I myself in some sort was the occasion of this embassy, having been the bearer of the 'Loci Theologici' of Philip Melancthon, which that very learned man sent to the most serene King your father, and had, moreover, induced him to dedicate that book to the King's Majesty.
7. "I was also asked by the King whether I thought Philip would come into England if His Majesty invited him, and I answered that I had very little doubt as to his inclination so to do, could he obtain the permission of John Frederic, Duke of Saxony.
8. "From these reasons it has often occurred to me that it was a duty which I owed the Church, to write the history, or tragedy, of the death of your most holy mother, in order to illustrate the glory of God and to afford consolation to the godly. No one, as far as I know, has as yet published such a work; I have been admonished from heaven by a vision or dream, which I shall presently narrate, to make it known to the world. I will therefore recount, with brevity and simplicity, the events as they occurred, introducing no ornaments of doctrine, as is done by some historical writers thereby to recommend themselves to their readers and to obtain credence for their narrative.
9. "Shortly after the Bishop of Hereford [episcopus Erfordensis] had been sent into Germany by the most serene King along with Dr. Nicolas Heath, now Archbishop of York, it happened that Dr. Stephen Gardener [Hortolanus], Bishop of Winchester, then Ambassador with the King of France, (a most violent persecutor of all the godly, on account of the true doctrine of the Gospel, who afterwards caused Dr. Ridley, Bishop of London, Hopper, of Norwich, Latimer, of Worcester, and three others to be put to death,) wrote to those friends whom he had in the Court of the King of England, conspirators like himself, to the effect that certain reports were being circulated in the Court of the King of France, and certain letters had been discovered, according to which the Queen was accused of adultery.
10. "These letters were delivered by the steward [perefectus] of the Bishop of Winchester, the King's Secretary, Thomas Wrothisley, who afterwards was created Earl of Southampton [Comes in Hampton], whom Dr. Stephen had placed in the Court to watch over his interests. They were next shown to the Lord Crumwell, the King's ear and mind, to whom he had entrusted the entire government of the kingdom.
11. "As Crumwell attended at the Court daily, along with Wrotisley, the affair thus became known to the King himself. He was furious, but, dissembling his wrath, he summoned Crumwell, Wrotisley, and certain others, who, as report says, hated the Queen, because she had sharply rebuked them and threatened to inform the King that under the guise of the Gospel and religion they were advancing their own interests, that they had put everything up for sale and had received bribes to confer ecclesiastical benefices upon unworthy persons, the enemies of the true doctrine, permitting the godly to be oppressed and deprived of their just rewards. To them he intrusted the investigation of the whole business.
2. "These spies, (because they greatly feared the Queen) watch her private apartments [cubiculum] night and day. They tempt her porter and serving man with bribes; there is nothing which they do not promise the ladies of her bedchamber. They affirm also that the King hates the Queen, because she has not presented him with an heir to the realm, nor was there any prospect of her so doing.
13. "Not long after this the persons returned who had been charged with the investigation of the rumours which had been circulated, everything having been arranged according to their entire satisfaction. They assure the King that the affair is beyond doubt; that they had seen the Queen dancing with the gentlemen of the King's chamber [cum cubiculariis regis], that they can produce witnesses who will vouch to the Queen having kissed her own brother, and that they have in their possession letters in which she informs him that she is pregnant.
14. "Thereupon it was decided and concluded that the Queen was an adulteress, and deserved to be burnt alive. The Councillors were summoned to meet at the King's palace at Greenwich, opposite London, on the other side of the river Thames, on April 30.
15. "At this time I was in attendance upon Crumwell at the Court, soliciting the payment of a stipend awarded to me by the most serene King. I was known to the Evangelical Bishops, whom your most holy mother had appointed from among those schoolmasters who favoured the purer doctrine of the Gospel, and to whom she had intrusted the care of it. I was also upon intimate terms with the Archbishop of Canterbury and Latimer, to whom your most holy mother was in the habit of confessing when she went to the Lord's Table. He it was for whom she sent when she was in prison and knew that she should shortly die. Although this most holy Queen, your very pious mother, had never spoken with me, nor had I ever received ought from anyone in her name, nor do I ever expect any such thing, (for all royal Courts have hitherto been opposed to me,) yet in consequence of what I had shortly before heard respecting as well her modesty, prudence, and gravity, as her desire to promote the pure doctrine of the Gospel and her kindness to the poor, from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Bishop Latimer, and even from Crumwell himself, I was deeply grieved in my heart at that tragedy about to be enacted by the Emperor, the Pope, and the other enemies of the Gospel, whose intention it was, along with her, to bury true religion in England and thus to restore impiety and idolatry.
02 May 153616. "Never shall I forget the sorrow which I felt when I saw the most serene Queen, your most religious mother, carrying you, still a little baby, in her arms and entreating the most serene King, your father, in Greenwich Palace, from the open window of which he was looking into the courtyard, when she brought you to him.
17. "I did not perfectly understand what had been going on, but the faces and gestures of the speakers plainly showed that the King was angry, although he could conceal his anger wonderfully well. Yet from the protracted conference of the Council, (for whom the crowd was waiting until it was quite dark, expecting that they would return to London,) it was most obvious to everyone that some deep and difficult question was being discussed.
18. "Nor was this opinion incorrect. Scarcely had we crossed the river Thames and reached London, when the cannon thundered out, by which we understood that some persons of high rank had been committed to prison within the Tower of London. For such is the custom when any of the nobility of the realm are conveyed to that fortress, which is commonly called the Tower of London, there to be imprisoned.
19. "Those who were present (of whom, by God's mercy, many are still alive, and have now returned into England from banishment) well know how deep was the grief of all the godly, how loud the joy of the hypocrites, the enemies of the Gospel, when the report spread in the morning that the Queen had been thrown in the Tower. They will remember the tears and lamentations of the faithful who were lamenting over the snare laid for the Queen, and the boastful triumphing of the foes of the true doctrine. I remained a sorrowful man at home, waiting for the result; for it was easy to perceive that in the event of the Queen's death, a change of religion was inevitable.
20. "I take to witness Christ, Who shall judge the quick and the dead, that I am about to speak the truth. On the day upon which the Queen was beheaded, at sunrise, between two and three o'clock, there was revealed to me (whether I was asleep or awake I know not) the Queen's neck, after her head had been cut off, and this so plainly that I could count the nerves, the veins, and the arteries.
21. "Terrified by this dream, or vision, I immediately arose, and crossing the river Thames I came to Lambeth, (this is the name of the Archbishop of Canterbury's palace,) and I entered the garden in which he was walking.
22. "When the Archbishop saw me he inquired why I had come so early, for the clock had not yet struck four. I answered that I had been horrified in my sleep, and I told him the whole occurrence. He continued in silent wonder for awhile, and at length broke out into these words, 'Do not you know what is to happen to-day?' and when I answered that I had remained at home since the date of the Queen's imprisonment and knew nothing of what was going on, the Archbishop then raised his eyes to heaven and said, 'She who has been the Queen of England upon earth will to-day become a Queen in heaven.' So great was his grief that he could say nothing more, and then he burst into tears.
23. "Terrified at this announcement I return to London sorrowing. Although my lodging was not far distant from the place of execution, yet I could not become an eye witness of the butchery of such an illustrious lady, and of the exalted personages who were beheaded along with her.
24. "Those persons, however, who were present, (one of whom was my landlord,) and others, told me at noon, that the Earl of Wiltshire (the Queen's father) had been commanded to be an assessor along with the judges, in order that his daughter might be the more confounded, and that her grief might be the deeper. Yet she stood undismayed; nor did she ever exhibit any token of impatience, or grief, or cowardice.
25. "The Queen was accused of having danced in the bedroom with the gentlemen of the King's chamber [cum cubicu lariis regis] and of having kissed her brother, Lord Rochfort. When she made no answer to these accusations, the King's syndic or proctor, Master Polwarck, produced certain letters and bawled out that she could not deny she had written to her brother, informing him that she was pregnant. Still she continued silent.
26. "When the sentence of death was pronounced, the Queen raised her eyes to heaven, nor did she condescend to look at her judges, but went to the place of execution. Kneeling down, she asked that time for prayer should be granted her. When she had ceased praying, she herself arranged her hair, covered her eyes, and commanded the executioner to strike.
27. "The Queen exhibited such constancy, patience, and faith towards God that all the spectators, even her enemies, and those persons who previously had rejoiced at her misfortune out of their hatred to the doctrine of the religion which she had introduced into England, testified and proclaimed her innocence and chastity.
28. "Without being questioned they themselves answered the accusations brought against the Queen. It is no new thing, said they, that the King's Chamberlains should dance with the ladies in the bedchamber. Nor can any proof of adultery be collected from the fact that the Queen's brother took her by the hand and led her into the dance among the other ladies, or handed her to another, especially if that person was one of the royal chamberlains. For it is a usual custom thoughout the whole of Britain that ladies married and unmarried, even the most coy, kiss not only a brother, but any honourable person, even in public. It is the custom also with young women to write to their near relatives when they have become pregnant, in order to receive their congratulations. The King also was most anxious for an heir, and longed for nothing more than to know that the Queen was pregnant.
29. "From such arguments as those which were advanced against the Queen they affirmed that no probable suspicion of adultery could be collected; and that therefore there must have been some other reason which moved the King. Possibly it might be the same as that which induced him to seek for a cause of divorce from his former Queen, namely, the desire of having an heir.
30. "He was still further strengthened in his desire for a new marriage by perceiving that all the male children to which the Queen gave birth came into the world dead, and that for some years past she had not conceived. For the King was apprehensive that after his own decease civil wars would break out, and that the crown would again be transferred to the family of the White Rose if he left no heir behind him.
31. "And further, the King was angry with the Queen because of the want of success which attended the embassy which, at her instigation, he had despatched into Germany, the Princes of which would not enter into a league with him against the Emperor, unless for the defence of the purer doctrine. They demanded more money than he was willing to give, nor would they permit Philip [Melancthon] to come into England. And the King was exceedingly indignant because the Princes of Germany doubted his faith.
32. "Moreover, they said that the Emperor, the Pope, Ferdinand, and the other Princes were banded against the King, and that he was in danger from them on account of the change of religion; nor was there anyone among the Kings and Princes who would render him assistance in the event of the Emperor declaring war against him in consequence of the divorce of his aunt, Queen Catherine, and the substitution of a second wife.
33. "How the matter actually stood would, however, they said, speedily be made known; whether he had executed the Queen for having broken her marriage vows, or for fear of the war which was about to break out in consequence of the changes in religion, and the divorce of the Emperor's aunt. For if he executed the Queen only on account of the suspicion of adultery, no change in religion would follow; but if out of fear of the war about religion and the divorce, then Lutheranism would be driven out of England and sent back into Germany, to those Princes who would not make a treaty with the King in the matter of the divorce. If, however, he was already in love with some other woman out of his anxiety for an heir, neither could this long be kept a secret. For so ardent was he when he had begun to form an attachment, that he could give himself no rest; so much so that when he was raving about Queen Anne and some of his friends were dissuading him from the divorce, he said that he preferred the love of the Queen to half his realm. It was in vain that his Councillors, and among the number Thomas More, the Chancellor, opposed this measure; for he sent agents to all the more renowned cities in France, Italy, and Germany, to collect the suffrages of the doctors in the matter of the divorce, not without the expenditure of an immense sum of money, concerning which he also consulted Luther and Philip.
34. "While the guests were thus talking at table in my hearing it so happened that a servant of Crumwell's came from the Court and sitting down at the table, asked the landlord to let him have something to eat, for he was exceedingly hungry.
35. "In the meantime, while the food was being got ready, the other guests asked him what were his news? Where was the King? What was he doing? Was he sorry for the Queen? He answered by asking why should he be sorry for her? As she had already betrayed him in secresy, (fn. 1) so now was he openly insulting her. For just as she, while the King was oppressed with the heavy cares of state, was enjoying herself with others, so he, when the Queen was being beheaded, was enjoying himself with another woman.
36. "While all were astonished and ordered him to hold his tongue, for he was saying what no one would believe, and that he would bring himself into peril if others heard him talking thus, he answered, 'You yourselves will speedily learn from other persons the truth of what I have been saying.'
37. "The landlord, who was a servant of Crumwell's, hearing this, said, 'It is not fitting for us to dispute about such affairs. If they are true they will be no secret. And when I go to Court I will inquire carefully into these matters.'
38. "The person, however, who had first spoken, answered that he had the King's orders that none but the Councillors and secretaries should be admitted, and that the gate of the country house should be kept shut in which the King had secluded himself.
39. "Some days afterwards, when the landlord returned from the Court, before anyone asked him a question he called out with a loud voice, 'I have news to tell you.' The guests anxiously waited to know what he had to say, whereupon he added, that within a few days the King would be betrothed and shortly afterwards would be married, but without any state, in the presence of the Councillors only; for he wished to delay the coronation of his new spouse until he should see whether she would give birth to a boy.
40. "The issue of events proved that this was the truth, for the Lady Jane was crowned Queen when she was upon the eve of the confinement in which she died.
41. "The birth of a son gave immense satisfaction to the King. But as he was afraid that he himself would not live so long as to see the child grown up, he removed out of the way all those persons of whom he was apprehensive, lest, upon his death, they should seize the crown.
42. "Shortly before his own death, conscious of the weakness of his son, he made a will by which he declared legitimate the daughter who had been born to him by the Emperor's aunt, and ordered that she should succeed to the throne in the event of his son dying without heirs. And if she also should have no heirs, that then Your Royal Highness should be acknowledged to be Queen by the kingdom.
43. "Although Cardinal Reginald Pole, one of the family of the White Rose, (from his hatred not only to the family of the Red Rose but also to the true doctrine of the Gospel,) accomplished thus much, when he returned into England from banishment, after the death of King Edward, that the realm should be transferred to strangers, still the counsel of God, which had determined to remove other persons out of the way and to give the crown of this realm to Your Majesty, could not be thwarted either by him, by the Pope, nor by the Emperor Charles.
44. "She also, who succeeded your mother, and who gave an heir male to the King, died, (as I have before mentioned) in childbirth. As she was near her last breath she was crowned, and with this intention, lest it should be objected to the child, when he grew up and applied for the crown, that his mother had not been a crowned Queen of England.
45. "The brother also of this Queen Jane, although he was created Duke of Somerset by the King, and made the tutor of his nephew, the son of his sister, and the Governor of the whole realm, yet shortly after the death of your illustrious father he was beheaded by means of his enemy, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, who in his turn was put to death by your sister, Queen Mary; he having attempted to transfer the succession to his own family upon the death of your illustrious brother, the godly King Edward.
46. "Although your brother, King Edward, on account of his piety, was worthy of a longer life, (which I am sure Your Royal Highness would not have grudged him, but which you would have wished for him,) nevertheless the fixed decree of God remained unaltered by which you were placed in the room of your most holy mother, whose innocence God has declared by the most indisputable miracles, and proved by the testimonies of all godly men. Of this, her innocence, there can be no more evident proof than this, that whereas she left you, her only child, your father always acknowledged you as legitimate; nor could those letters which were written by your mother to her brother, which were produced as the concluding and conclusive proof that your mother deserved capital punishment, persuade the illustrious King that you were not his daughter.
47. "Thus much have I introduced about the tragedy of your most pious mother, in order that this illustrious instance might manifest the glory of God, and that the craft and power of man in vain oppose themselves to Him."
48. For this and many of God's mercies the writer hopes that she will be induced to serve Him faithfully, that she will guard herself from the snares of the devil, who was the cause of her mother's death in consequence of her love for the doctrine of the Gospel while it was in its infancy, and afterwards persecuted those persons whom she appointed to watch over the Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Latimer, and those other most holy Bishops and martyrs, of whom the writer would be glad to see a catalogue published by Doctor Bale. For those persons whom the King appointed as "Inspectors of Churches," under the pretext of religion, consulted their own profit. God avenged this profanation of His Name by suppressing the doctrine and punishing the individuals. "True religion in England had its commencement and its end with your mother. And as soon as the King began to hate her, laws hostile to the purer doctrine of the Gospel appeared."
49. "When I could not bear these with a good conscience, nor could my profession allow me to dissemble them (for I was filling the office of the ordinary reader in the celebrated University of Cambridge by the King's orders,) I came to the Court, and asked for my dismissal by means of Crumwell. But he retained me for about three years, with empty hopes, until it was decreed and confirmed by law that married priests should be separated from their wives and punished at the King's pleasure. But before this law was published, the Bishop of Canterbury sent Lord Pachet [Paget] from Lambeth to me at London. (I understand that he afterwards attained a high position in the Court of your sister, Queen Mary.) He directed me to call upon the Archbishop early in the morning. When I called upon him, 'Happy man that you are,' said he, 'you can escape! I wish that I might do the same; truly my see would be no hindrance to me. You must make haste to escape before the island is blocked up, unless you are willing to sign the decree, as I have, compelled by fear. I repent of what I have done. And if I had known that my only punishment would have been deposition from the archbishopric, (as I hear that my Lord Latimer is deposed,) of a truth I would not have subscribed. I am grieved, however, that you have been deprived of your salary for three years by Crumwell; that you have no funds for your travelling expenses, and that I have no ready money. Nor dare I mention this to my friends, lest the King should become aware that warning had been given by me for you to escape, and that I have provided you with the means of travelling. I give you, however, this ring as a token of my friendship. It once belonged to Thomas Wolsey, and it was presented to me by the King when he gave me the archbishopric.'
50. "When I heard what the Bishop had to say, I immediately caused my property to be sold, and I concealed myself in the house of a German sailor until the ship was ready, in which I embarked, dressed as a soldier, along with other German troops, that I might not be detected. When I had escaped a company of searchers, I wrote to Crumwell (although he had not behaved well towards me) and warned him of the danger in which he stood at that time, and about certain other matters. For this I can vouch the testimony of John Ales, Gregory, and the Secretary, and Pachet himself. But Christopher Mount said that Crumwell did not dare to speak to me when I was going away and soliciting my dismissal, nor could he venture to give me anything, lest he should be accused to the King, but that he would send the sum that he owed me into Germany.
51. "The next intelligence, however, which I heard of him was that he had undergone capital punishment by order of the King; to whom he had written, when in prison, saying that he was punished by the just judgment of God, because he had loved the King more than God; and that out of deference to his Sovereign he had caused many innocent persons to be put to death, not sparing your most holy mother, nor had he obeyed her directions in promoting the doctrine of the Gospel.
52. "May Christ preserve Your Highness from the snares of the devil, and warm your heart to love the true religion, by which His Name may be sanctified and the kingdom of His Son may again reach the English nation under your sway."— Leipsic, 1 Sept. Signed: Alexander Alesius, D.
53. "P. S.—D. Johannes Outehoffius, who presents these letters to Your Majesty, is a very learned man and the constant associate of John a Lasco in the ministry of the Gospel. He is now returning out of Poland into England, on account of the reasons which he will explain to Your Majesty. I respectfully recommend him to you.
54. "Should you wish to send me anything, this may be done by Bishop William Barlow, or by D. Bale."
Orig. Hol. Endd: Cal. Septemb. 1559. Discoloured by damp. Pp. 20 and slip.