MARY , the eldest Daughter of King Henry the Eighth , and of Katherine his first wife , An. 1516. daughter of Ferdinand and Issabella Kings of Spain , was born at Greenwich on the 18 th day of February , Anno 1516. Her Mother had before been married to Arthur Prince of Wales , the elder Brother of King Henry ; but whether bedded by him or not , ( more than as to some old Formalities of Court , on the like occasions ) was not commonly known : But he dying within few months after , King Henry the Seventh , the father of the deceased Prince , was secretly dealt with by the Agents of the said Ferdinand and ●ssabella , to proceed unto a second Marriage between Henry Duke of York , his now onely son , and their daughter Katherine . To which King Henry readily condescendeth , upon divers reasons ; partly to be assured of the assistance of the Kings of Spain , against all practises of the French ; and partly that so great a Treasure , as the Rents and Profits of the Princesse's Joynture might not be carried out of the Kingdom , as needs must be , if she should be married to a Prince of another Nation . This being agreed on by the Parents of either side , Pope Julius the 2 d. is sollicited for a Dispensation : to the Grant whereof he willingly yielded , knowing how necessary it was to the Peace of Christendom , that those Kings should be united in the strictest Leagues of Love and Amity . Which comming to the knowledge of the Princesse Katherine , who understood her own condition better than her father or mother , she caused those words , vel forsan co●nitam , to be inserted into the Bull or Dispensation ; and this she did for the preventing of all such disputes as might arise about the validity of the Marriage , in case the consummation of it should be openly known ; though afterwards those words were used as the shrewdest Argument for the invalidating of the Marriage , when it came in question . And some such thing was thought to have prevailed with King Henry the seventh , for deferring the advancement of Henry his second son to the Style , Title , and Dignity of Prince of Wales , that he might first be well assued , that no child was likely to be born of the former Marriage , to whom that Title might more properly and of right belong .

The Dispensation being thus granted , Prince Henry , being then eleven years of age , or thereabouts , is solemnly contracted to the Princesse Katherine , who must needs have a very great stock , as well of Christian-Prudence , as of Virgin-Modesty , to wait the growing up of a Husband being then a child , and one of whose affection to her , when he should come to Man's estate , she had no assurance ; and so it proved in the event : For Henry had no sooner finished the fourteenth year of his age , when , either by the compunction of conscience , the perswasion of some that wish'd him well , or upon consideration of the disproportion of age which was then between them , ( the Princesse being eight years the elder ) he resolved upon the breaking and annulling of the said Contract , in which his Parents had engaged him . To which end , making his addresse to Doctor Richard Fox , then Bishop of Winchester , he openly renounceth the said Contract , not by word onely , but by the subscription of his name to a Legall Instrument , containing the effect of that Renunciation , his Resolution never to proceed any further in it , and his Reasons for it . Which Instrument he published in the presence of John Read , a publick Notary , ( the Bishop sitting then at Richmond , as in Court or Consistory ) and witnessed unto by Miles Da●ben●y , Lord Chamberlain to King Henry the seventh , and father of Henry Earl of Bridgwater ; Sir Charls Sommerset Banneret , created afterwards Earl of Worcester ; Dr. Nicolas West , after Bishop of El● ; Dr. Th●mas Rowthall , after Bishop of Durham ; and Sir Henry Maini● . The Instrument it self , extant in the History of John Speed , may be there consulted . And in pursuance of this Act , he waived the Consummation of the Marriage from one time to another , till the death of his father , which happened on the 22 of April , An. 1509. he being then within two months of the age of eighteen years . But being now come unto the Crown by the death of his father , Reason of State prevailed so far beyond that of Conscience , that he consented to the consummation of the Marriage , which before he had solemnly renounced , and did accordingly celebrate those unhappy Nuptialls ( the cause of so much trouble both to him and others ) on the second of June , and caused her to be Crown'd with him on the 24 th . of the same month . This Marriage was blest within the year by the birth of a son , whom the King caused to be Christned by the name of Henry ; and five years after with another , who lived not long enough to receive his Baptism .

But Henry , 1519. the first-born , not living to be two months old , the King remained childlesse till the birth of this daughter Mary , the presumptive Heir of his Dominions ; committed in her Infancy to the care and charge of the Lady Margaret , daughter of George Duke of Clarence , and by the King ( in reference to her discent from the house of the Montacutes ) advanced unto the Style and Title of Countesse of Sarisbury , An ▪ 1513. And herein it was thought , that the Queen had a particular aim beyond that of the King , and that she rather chose to commit her daughter to the care of that Lady , than of any other in the Kingdom ; to the end , that some affection growing to her by any of the Countesse's sons , her daughter's Title to the Crown might be corroborated by the Interesse of the House of Clarence . And so far her design succeeded , that the Princesse Mary always carried such a dear affection to Reginald P●le , her second son , ( best known by the name of Cardinal Pole in the following times ) that when she came unto the Crown , she would have made choice of him for her husband before any other , if the necessity of her affairs , and some artifices used to illude that purpose , had not changed her mind . She had scarce liv'd to the third year of her age , when she was promised in marriage to the Daulphine of France , 1519. with a Portion of 333000 Crowns , to be paid by her Father , and as great a Joynture to be made by the French King Francis , as ever had been made by any King of that Country . And so far did the businesse seem to be acted in earnest , that it was publickly agreed upon in the treaty for the Town of Tournay , that the Espousals should be made within four months , by the said two Kings , in the name of their children ; in pursuance whereof , as the French King sent many rich gifts to some leading men of the Court of England , to gain their good liking to this League , so he sent many costly Presents to the Princesse Mary , the designed wife ( if Princes could be bound by such designations ) of the heir of France .

But war beginning to break out between the French and the Spaniards , it was thought fit by Charles the fifth , 1522. being then Emperour of Germany , and King of Spain , to court the favour of the English ; for the obtaining whereof , his neernesse to Queen Katherine , being sister to the Queen , his Mother , gave him no small hopes . Upon this ground he makes a voyage into England , is royally feasted by the King ▪ installed solemnly Knight of the Order of the Garter , in the Castle of Windsor , and there capitulates with the King amongst other things , to take to wife his daughter Mary , as soon as she should come to the years of marriage ; it was also then and there agreed , that as soon as she was twelve years old , the Emperour should send a proxie to make good the contract & espouse her per verba de praesenti in the usual form ▪ that in the mean time the King of England should not give her in marriage unto any other , that a dispensation should be procured from the Pope , at the charge of both Princes , in regard that the parties were within the second degree of consanguinity ; that within four months after the contract , the Princesse should be sent to the Emperour's Court , whether it were in Spain or Flanders , at the sole charge of the King of England , and married within four dayes after her comming thither , in the face of the Church ; her portion limited to 400000 crowns , if the King should have no issue male , but to be inlarged to 600000 crowns more , if the King should have any such issue male to succeed in the Kingdom . A jointure of 50000 crowns per annum , to be made by the Emperour , the one part thereof to be laid in Flanders , and the other in Spain ; and finally , that if either of the said two Princes should break off this marriage , he should forfeit 400000 crowns to the party injured .

And now who could have thought but that the Princesse Mary , 1525. must have been this Emperour's wife , or the wife rather of any Prince , then one that was to be begotten by this Emperour , on another woman , though in conclusion so it hapned . As long as Charles had any need of the assistance and friendship of England , so long he seemed to go on really in the promised marriage , and by all means must have the Princesse sent over presently to be declared Empresse , and made Regent of Flanders . But when he had taken the French King at the battel of Pavia , sackt Rome , and made the Pope his prisoner , he then conceived himselfe in a condition of seeking for a wife elsewhere , which might be presently ripe for marriage , without such a tedious expectation , as his tarrying for the Princesse Mary must needs have brought him . And thereupon he shuts up a marriage with the Lady Issabell , Infanta of P●lugull , and daughter to another of his Mother's ●isters . For which being questioned by the King , he layes the blame upon the importunity of his Council , who could not patiently permit him to remain unmarried , till the Princesse Mary came to age ; and who besides had caused a scruple to be started , touching her illegitimation , as being born by one that had been wife to his elder brother . King Henry thereupon proceeds to a new treaty with the French , to whom his friendship at the time of their King's captivity had been very useful ; which is by them as cheerfully excepted , as by him it had been franckly offered . She had before been promised to the Daulphin of Franc● , but now she is design'd for the second son , then Duke of Orleance , who afterwards , by the death of his elder brother , succeeded his father in the Crown . But whilst they were upon this treaty , the former question touching her legitimation , was again revived by the Bishop of Tarb●e , one of the Commissioners for the French , which though it seem'd not strong enough to dissolve the treaty which the French were willing to conclude ( as their affairs then stood ) upon any conditions ; yet it occasioned many troubles in the Court of Eng●and , and almost all Christendome besides .

For now the doubt being started a second time , 1526. and started now by such , who could not well subsist without his friendship , began to make a deep impression in the mind of the King , and to call ba●k such passages to his remembrance , as otherwise would have been forgotten . He now bethinks himselfe of the Protestation which he had made in the presence of Bishop Fox before remembred , never to take the Lady Katherine for his wife ; looks on the death of his two sons , as a punishment on him for proceeding in the marriage ; and casts a fear of many inconveniences , or mischiefs rather , which must inevitably befall this Kingdome , if he should dye , and leave no lawful issue to enjoy the Crown . Hope of more children there was none , and little pleasure to be taken in a conversation ; which the disproportion of their years , and a greater inequality in their dispositions , must render lesse agreeable every day then other . In this perplexity of mind , he consults his Confessor , by whom he was advised to make known his griefs to Cardinal Wolsie , on whose judgement he relied in most other matters ; which hapned so directly to the Cardinal's mind , as if he had contrived the project . The Emperour had lately cross'd him in his suit for the Popedome , and since denied him the Archbish prick of T●ledo , with the promise whereof he had before bound him to his side . And now the Cardinal resolves to take the opportunity of the King's distractions , for perfecting his revenge against him . In order whereunto , as he had drawn the King to make peace with France , and to conclude a marriage for his daughter with the Duke of Orleance ; so now he hopes to separate him from the bed of Katherine , the Emperour's Aunt , and marry him to Madam Rhinee , the French Queens sister , who afterwards was wife to the Duke of Ferrara . About which time the picture of Madam Margaret , the sister of King Francis , first married to the Duke of Alanzon , was brought amongst others into Englan● , by Thomas Bol●n , Viscount Rochford , at his return from the Fren●h Court , where he had been Ambassador for the King of England : which fir●t occasioned areport in the common people , and afterwa●ds a mistake in our common Chronicles , touching this Ladie 's being designed by Wolsie for a wife to his Master ; whereas she was at that time actually married to the Count of A●bret , King of Navarre in title , and in title only .

But Rochford brought with him out of France another Piece , 1527. which more excelled the picture of the Dutchesse of Alanz●n , then that Dutchesse did the ordinary beauties in the Court of France ; that is to say , his daughter Anne ; whom he had bred up for a time in the house of the Dutchesse , which render'd her an exact mistresse of the gaities and garb of the great French Ladies . Appearing in the Court of England , she shewed her selfe with so many advantages above all other Ladies about the Queen , that the King easily took notice of her . Whether more captivated by the Allurements of her beauty , or the facetiousnesse of her behaviour , it is hard to say ; certain it is , that he suffered himselfe to be so far transpo●ted in affection towards her , that he could think of nothing else , but what might tend to the accomplishment of his desires ; so that the separation from the bed of Katherine , which was but coldly followed upon case of Conscience , is now more hotly prosecuted in the heat of Concupisc●nce . In the mean time the King adviseth with the Cardinal , and the Cardinal with the most learned men in the Realm of England . By whom it was modestly resolved , that the King had a very just ground to consult the Pope , and to 〈…〉 lawful means for extricating himselfe out of those perplexities , in which this marriage had involved him . The Pope had been beholden to the King , for procuring his liberty , when the Imperialists held him prisoner in the Fort of St Angel● , and was in reason bound to gratifie him for so great a benefit . But then withall , he neither was to provoke the Emperour , nor hazard the Authority and Reputation of the See Apostolick , by running on the King's errand with more ha●te then speed . He therefore goes to work like a Pope of Rome , and entertains the King with hopes ; without giving the Emperour and his adherents , any cause of despair . A Commission is therefore granted to two Cardinals , that is to say , Cardinal Thomas Wolsi● , Archbishop of York , and Laurene Camp●gius , whom Henry some few years before , had made Bishop of Sa●isbury ; both beneficiaries to the King , and therefore like enough to consult more his interest , then the Queen's contentment .

Of the erecting of a Court L●gant●ne in the Convent of the Black Friers in 1528. London , the citing of the King and Queen to appear before them , the Kings patheticall Oration in the bemoaning of his own misfortunes , and the Queen's Appeal from the two Cardinals to the Pope , I shall now say nothing ; leaving the Reader for those passages to our common Annals . Suffice in this place to note , that while the businesse went on favourable in the King's behalfe , Wolsie was given to understand of his desperate loves to Mistrisse Bollen , which represented to him two ensuing mischiefs , not to be otherwise avoided , then by slackning the course of these proceedings . For first , he saw that if the King should be divorc'd definitively from his present wife , he should not be able to draw him to accept of Madam Rhenee the French Queens sister , which was the mark he chiefly aimed at . And secondly , he feared that Mistrisse Anne had brought so much of the Lutheran with her , as might in time become destructive 1529. to the Church of Rome . Of this he certifies the Pope , the Pope recals Campegius , and revokes his Commission ; leaving the King to cast about to some new wayes to effect his purpose . And at this time it hapned , that Dr Thomas Cram●er ( who afterwards obtained to the See of Canterbury ) discoursing with some of the Kings Ministers , about the intrica●enesse and perplexity of this great affair ; declared , for his opinion in it , that it were better for the King to govern himselfe therein , by the judgement and determination of the Universities beyond the seas , then to depend upon the shifts and Artifices of the Court of Rome . Which being told unto the King , he dispatcheth Cramner unto Rome , in the company of Rochford , now made Earl of Wil●shire , to maintain the King's cause by disputation ; and at the same time employs his agents to the Universities of France and Italy , who being under the command of the French King , or the power of the Pope , gave sentence in behalfe of Henry , condemning his marriage with the Lady Katherine , the Relict of his brother , to be simply unlawful in it selfe , and therefore not to be made valid by a dispensation from the Popes of Rome .

The putting the King upon this course , proved the fall of Wolsi● ; who growing every day lesse then other in the King's esteem , was brought within 〈◊〉 compasse of a Pramunire , and thereby stript of all his goods to an infinite value ; removed not long after unto York , and there arrested of High Treason by the Earl of Northumberland , and committed to the custody of Sir William Kingston , being then Lievtenant of the Tower . By whom conducted towards London , he departed this life in the Abby of Leicester : 1530. his great heart not being able to endure so many indignities , as had been lately put upon him , and having cause to fear much worse then his former sufferings . But the removing of this Rub , did not much smooth the way to the King's desires . The Queen's appeal unto the Pope , was the greatest difficulty , from which since she could not be removed , it must be made unprofitable and ineffectual , for the time to come . And thereupon a Proclamation is set forth on the 19 of September , 1530. in these following words , viz. The King's Highnesse streightly chargeth and commandeth , That no manner of person , of what estate , degree or condition , he or they be of , do purchase , or attempt to purchase , from the Court of Rome , or elsewhere , nor use , nor put in execution , divulge or publish , any thing heretofore within this year passed , purchased , or to be purchased hereafter ; containing matter prejudicial to the High Authority , Jurisdiction , and prerogative Royal of this his said Re●lm , or to the lett , hinderance , or impeachment , of his Grace's Noble , and Vertuous intended purposes in the premises ; upon pain of incurring his Highnesse's indignation , and imprisonment , and farther punishment of their bodies , for their so doing , at his Grace●s pleasure ; to the dreadful example of all others .

This was the Prologue to the downfall of the Pope in England , seconded by the Kings taking to himselfe the Title ●upream Head of the Churches of England and Ireland , acknowledged in the Convocation , and confirmed in Parliament , and ending finally in an Act intituled , An Act for extinguishing the authority of the Bishops of Rome . And in all this the King did nothing but what he had example and Authority for , at that very time ; for in the year 1520 ( being but ten years before the setting forth of this Proclamation ) Monseiur a' Lautreth , Governour for the French King , in the Dukedome of Millain , taking a displeasure against Pope Leo the tenth , deprived him of all his jurisdiction within the Dukedom . Vt praefecto sacris Bigoranno Episcopo , omnia sine Romani Pōtificis authoritate administrarentur . Thuan. And that being don● , he so disposed of all Ecclesiasticall affairs , that the Church there was supremely governed by the Bishop of Bigorre ( a Bishop of the Church of France ) , without the intermedling of the Pope at all . The like we find to have been done by the Emperour , Charles the fifth , who being no lesse displeased with Pope Clement the eighth , abolished the Papal power and jurisdiction , out of all the Churches of his Kingdome in Spain , which though it held but for a while ( till the breach was closed ) yet left he an example by it ( as my Author noteth ) that there was no necessity of any Pope or supreme Pastor in the Church of Christ . Ecclesiasticam disciplinam citra Romani nominis authoritatem posse consecrari . And before either of these Acts or Edicts came in point of practice , the learned Gerson , Chancellor of the University of Paris ( when the Popes power was greater far , then it was at the present ) had writ and published a discourse , entituled , De auferibilita●e Papae , touching the totall abrogating of the Papall Office . Which certainly he had never done , had the Papall Office been found essentiall , and of intrinsecall concernment to the Church of Christ . According unto which position of that learned man , the greatest Princes of those times did look upon the Pope , and the Papall power , as an Excrescence at the least in the body mysticall , subject and fit to be pared off , as occasion served . And if they did , or do permit him to retain any part of his former greatnesse , it is permitted rather upon selfe-ends , or Reasons of state , or otherwise to serve their turn by him as their 〈◊〉 requireth , then out of any opinion of his being so necessary , that the Church cannot be well governed , or subsist without him .

But leaving these disputes to some other place , 1531. we must return unto the Queen . To whom some Lords are sent in the end of May , an. 1531. declaring to her the determinations of the Universities , concerning the pretended ●●rriage betwixt her and the King . And therewith they demanded of her ; whether , for quieting the King's conscience , and putting an end to that debate , she would be content to refer the matter to four Bishops , and four temporall Lords . But this she absolutely refused , saying , She was his lawful Wife , that she would stand to her Appeal , and condescend to nothing in that particular , but by the counsel of the Emperour , and the rest of her friends . This answer makes the King more resolute , more open in the demonstration of his affections to the Lady Anne Bollen , whom he makes Marchionesse of Pembrook , by his Letters Patents , 1532. bearing date the first of September , 1532. takes her along with him to Callis in October following , there to behold the glorious enterview betwixt him and the French King ; and finally , privately marrieth her within few dayes after his return , the divorce being yet unsentenced betwixt him and the Queen . Not long after which , it was thought necessary to the King , to call a Parliament , wherein he caused an Act to passe , that no person should appeal for any cause out of this Realm , to the Pope of Rome ; but that all Appeals should be made by the party grieved from the Commissary to the Bishop , from the Bishop to the Archbishop , and from the Archbishop , to the King , as had been anciently observed amongst the first Kings of the House of Normandy . It was also enacted in the same , that all causes Eccles●aticall Cognisances , in which the King himself was a Party , should be determined finally in the Upper-House of Convocation , without being bound to make recourse to the Court of Rome . During the sitting of which Parliament it is declared by Proclamation , that Queen Katherine should no longer be called Queen , but Princesse Dowager , as being the Widow of Prince Arthur , not the Wife of King Henry .

Warham Archbishop of Canterbury , in the mean time dying , Cranmer is designed for his Successor in that eminent dignity ; which he unwillingly accepts of , partly in regard that he was married at that time , and partly in reference to an Oath which he was to take unto the Pope at his Consecration . But the King was willing , for his own ends , to wink at the one , and the Pope was not in a condition ( as the case then stood ) to be too peremptory in the other . So that a Protestation being admitted , of not being otherwise bound to the Pope , than should be found agreeable to the Word of God , and the Laws and Statu●es of the Realm , he takes his Oath , and receives the Episcopall Consecration , the 30th . of March , 1533. the Parliament still sitting which before we spake of . At his first entrance into the House of Convocation , he propounds two Questions to be considered and disputed by the Bishops and Clergy ; the first was , Whether the marrying of a Brother's wife , carnally known , though without any issue by him , be so prohibited by the Will and Word of God , as not to be dispenc'd withall by the Pope of Rome . The second was , Whether it did appear , upon the Evidence given in before the Cardinalls , that Katherine had been carnally known by Prince Arthur , or not . Both Questions being carried in the Affirmative , though not without some Opposition in either House , in the first especially ; it was concluded thereupon in the Convocation , and not long after in the Parliament also , That the King might lawfully proceed to another Marriage .

These preparations being made , the Marriage precondemned by Convocation , and all Appeals to Rome made ineffectuall by Act of Parliament , the new Archbishop ( upon his own desire & motion , contain'd in his Letters of the 11th of April ) is authorised by the King , under his Signe Manuall , to proceed definitively in the Cause . Who thereupon , accompanied with the Bishops of London , Winchester , Wells , and Lincoln , and dive●s other persons to serve as Officers in that Court , repaired to Dunstable in the begining of May ; and having a convenient place prepared in the form of a Consistory , they sent a Citation to the Princesse Dowager , who was then at Amptill , ( a Mannor-house of the King 's about six miles off ) requiring her to appear before them at the day appointed ; which day being come , and no appearance by her made , either in Person , or by Proxie , ( as they knew there would not ) she is called peremptorily every day , fifteen days together ; and every day there was great poasting betwixt them and the Court , to certifie the King and Cromwell ( a principall stickler in this businesse ) how all matters went . In one of which , from the new Archbishop , extant in the Cottonian Library , a Resolution is signified to Cromwel● for comming to a finall Sentence on Friday the 18 th . of that Month , but with a vehement conjuration both to him and the King , not to div●lge so great a secret , for fear the Princesse Dowager on the hearing of it , either before , or on the day of passing Sentence , should make her appearance in the Court : For ( saith he ) if the noble Lady Katherine should , upon the bruit of this matter , either in the mouthes of the Inhabitants of the Country , or by her Friends , or Counsell , hearing of this bruite , be moved , stirred , counselled , or perswaded to appear before me , in the time , or afore the time of Sentence , I should be thereby greatly staid and let in the Processe , and the King's Grace's Councell here present shall be much uncertain what shall be then further done therein . For a great bruite and voice of the people in this behalf , might perchance move her to do the thing , which peradventure she would not if she hear little of it . And therefore I pray you to speak as little of this matter as you may , and to move the King's Highnesse so to do , for consideration above recited . But so it hapned to their wish , that the Queen , persisting constant in her Resolution of standing to the Judgment of no other Court than the Court of Rome , vouchsafed not to take any notice of their proceeding in the Cause . And thereupon , at the day and time before designed , she was pronounced to be Cont●max for defect of Appearance ; and by the generall consent of all the Learned men then present , the Sentence of the Divorce was passed , and her Marriage with the King declared void , and of none effect .

Of all these doings , as the Divorced Queen would take no notice , so by her Officers and Attendants she was served as in her former capacity . Which comming to the King's knowledge , he sends the Duke of Suffolk and some others in the month of July , with certain Instructions given in Writing , to perswade her , to submit to the Determinations of the King and State , to lay aside the Title of Queen , to content her self with that of the Princesse Dowager ; and to remove her from the Bishop of Lincoln's house at Bayden , where she then remained , to a place called Some●sham , belonging to the Bishop and Church of Eli. To none of which when she would hearken , an Oath is tendred to her Officers and the rest of her Houshold ▪ to serve her onely in the capacity of Princesse Dowager , and not as formerly in the no●ion of a Queen of England . Which at the first was generally refused amongst them , upon a Resolution which had been made in the Case by Abel and Berker , her two Chaplains ; that is to say , That having already took an Oath to serve her as Queen , they could not with a good conscience take any other . But in the end , a fear of losing their said places , but more of falling into the King's displeasure , so prevailed upon them ▪ that the Oath was taken by most of them ; not suffered from thenceforth to come into the Queen's presence , ( who looked upon them as the betrayers of her Cause ) or to perform any service about her Person . Some Motives , to induce her to a better conformity , were ordered to be laid before her ; none like to be more prevalent , than that which might concern the Interest of her daughter Mary . And therefore it was offered to her consideration , That chiefly , and above all things , she should have regard to the Honourable , and her most dear Daughter , the Lady Princesse ; from whom , in case the King's Highnesse ( being thus enforced , exagitated , and moved by the unkindnesse of the Dowager ) might also withdraw his Princely estimation , goodnesse , zeal , and affection ; it would be to her no little regret , sorrow , and extream calamity . But the wise Queen knew well enough , that if she stood , her Daughter could not do amisse ▪ whereas there could be nothing gained by such submissions , but the dishonour of the one , the Bastardising of the other , and the ex●luding of them both from all possibility of being restored in time to come to their first condition .

Finding small hopes of any justice to be done her in the Realm of England , and not well able to endure so many indignities as had been daily put upon her , she makes her complaint unto the Pope , whom she found willing to show his teeth , though he could not bite . For presently hereupon a Bull is issued , for accursing both the King and the Realm ; the Bea●er hereof not daring to proclaim the same in England , caused it to be set up in some publick places in the Town of Dunkirk ▪ ( one of the Haven Towns of Flanders ) that so the roaring of it might be heard on this side of the Sea ▪ to which it was not safe to bring it . But neither the Pope nor the Queen Dowager got any thing by this rash adventure , which onely served to exasperate the King against them , as also against all which adheared unto them . For in the following Parliament , which began on the 25 th . of January , and ended on the 30 th . of March , an Act was pass'd , inhibiting the payment of First-fruits to the Bishop of Rome , and for the Electing , Consecrating , and Confirming of the Archbishops and Bishops in the Realm of England , without recourse unto the Pope , cap. 20. Another Act for the Attaindure of Elizabeth Barton , commonly called the holy Maid of K●nt , with many other her adhearents , for stickling in the cause of the Princesse Dowager , cap. 12. and finally , of Establishing the Succession in the Crown Imperiall of this Realm , cap. 22. In which last Act , the Sentence of the Divorce was confirmed and ratified , the Princesse Mary de●lared to be illegitimate , the Succession of the Crown entailed on the King's Issue by Queen Anne Bollen , an Oath prescribed for all the Subjects in maintenance of the said Statute of Succession , and taken by the Lords and Commons at the end of that Parliament , as generally by all the Subjects of the Kingdom within few months after . For the refusall whereof , as also for denying the King's Supremacy , and some suspition of confederacy with Elizabeth Barton , Doctor John Fisher Bishop of Rochester , not many days before created Cardinall by Pope Paul the 3 d. was on the 22 of June beheaded publickly on the Tower-hill , and his head most disgracefully fixed upon a Pole , and set on the top of the Gate on London-Bridge . And on the 6 th . of July then next following , Sir Thomas Moor , who had succeeded Wolsie in the place of Lord Chancellor , was beheaded for the same cause also ▪ But I find him not accused , as I do the other , for having any hand in the Conspiracy of El●zabeth Barton .

The Execution of which great persons , and of so many others who wish'd well unto her , added so much affliction to the desolate and disconsolate Queen , that not being able longer to bear the burden of so many miseries , she fell into a languishing sicknesse ; which more and more encreasing on her , and finding the near approach of death , ( the onely remedy now left for all her sorrows ) she dictated this ensuing Letter , which she caused to be delivered to the King by one of her Women , wherein she laid before him these her last requests , viz.

Within few days after the writing of which Letter , that is to say , on the 8 th . of January then next following , she yielded her pious Soul to God at the King's Mannor-house of Kimbolton , in the County of Hu●ting●on , and was solemnly interred not long after in the Abbey of Peterborough . The reading of her Letter drew some tears from the King , which could not but be much encreased by the news of her death . Moved by them both to such a measure of commiseration of her sad condition , that he caused the greatest part of her goods ( amounting to 5000 Marks ) to be expended on her Funerall , and in the recompencing of such of her servants as had best deserved it . Never so kind to her in the time of her life , as when he had rendred her incapable of receiving a kindnesse .

The Princesse Mary is now left wholly to her self , declared illegitimate by her Father , deprived of the comfort of her Mother , and in a manner forsaken by all her friends , whom the severe proceedings against Moor and Fisher had so deterred , that few durst pay her any offices of Love or Duty . Of any proceedings in the Match with the Duke of Orleance , we hear no more news , all further prosecution of it being at a stand by the misfortunes of her Mother ; nor was she sought in Marriage by any other Prince in the life of her Father , bu● onely by James the 5 th . of Scotland ; but finding himself deluded in it by King Henry , he thought it best to strengthen himself by a Match with France , where he was first married to Madam Magdaleene , the first daughter of K. Francis , and afterwards to Mary daughter of Claude of Lorrain , Duke of Guise , by whom he had one onely daughter called Mary also . In which condition , the poor Princesse had no greater comfort than what she could gather from her Books , in which she had been carefully instructed by Doctor John Voisie , aliâs Harman , appointed her Tutor by the King ; and , for his good performance in that place of trust , advanced by him to the Sea of Exon , An. 1529. and afterwards made Lord President of Wales ; which sell out better for the Tutor , than it did for the Pupill ; Who being left destitute of the counsell of so grave a Man , began to give way more and more to her grief and passions , which brought her at the last to such an aversenesse from the King , and such a manifest disaffection to his Person and Government , that he was once upon the point of sending her prisoner to the Tower ; and had so done , if Cranmer had not interposed some powerfull reasons to disswade him from it .

During which time of her aversenesse , the King sent certain of the Lords to remove her to Hatfield ; who having no authority to treat her by the name of Princesse , but onely to execute the King's commands , gave her occasion thus to signifie her discontentments , My Lords ( said she ) as touching my removing to Hatfield , I will obey his Grace , as my duty is , or to any other place that his Grace will appoint me . But I protest before you , and all other that be here present , that my conscience will in no wise suffer me to take any other than my self for Princesse , or for the King's Daughter , born in lawfull Matrimony ; and that I will never wittingly or willingly say or do , whereby any person might take occasion to think , that I agree to the contrary . Nor say I this out of any ambition or proud mind , as God is my Judge ; but that if I should do otherwise , I should in my conscience slander the Deed of our Mother , the holy Church , and the Pope , who is the Judge in this matter ▪ and none other ; and also should dishonour the King my Father , the Queen my Mother , and falsly confesse my self a Bastard , which God defend that I should do , since the Pope hath not so declared it by his Sentence definitive , to whose finall Judgment I submit my self . In pursuance of which claim to the Title of Princesse , together with the Priviledges and Preheminences thereunto belonging , she writes this following Letter to the King her Father , on a like occasion .