Part 8

So much impressed were Gardiner and Fox by this advice, that the next day they laid the substance of it before the King.

Some writers say that Gardiner wished to make it appear that the opinion came from him, but that Fox, either from generosity to Cranmer or from spite to Gardiner, took care to mention from whence it was derived.

At any rate, these observations of Cranmer's caused him to be presented to the King, as Henry had at once perceived the importance of the suggestion thus thrown out.

Brilliant talents and an admirable judgment commanded respect, while the candour and uprightness of Cranmer's character secured for him the esteem of all who knew him. His rise in the King's favour was rapid, and honours were showered upon him.

In after times Henry might differ from his Minister, but he knew he need never distrust him. The King often said that the Archbishop of Canterbury (Cranmer) was the only Churchman he had ever known upon whom he could implicitly rely.

Unhappily, the haughty and hasty monarch occasionally succeeded in prevailing upon Cranmer to swerve from the strict line of wisdom and prudence to which his opinions inclined him, but although he yielded in action, the purity of his intentions and the honesty of his purpose were never doubted.

The new adviser's rapid advancement was the signal of Wolsey's fall.

While that powerful Minister was apparently enjoying the plenitude of his greatness, and triumphing in the magnificence of his position, destruction came upon him unawares. Great and brilliant had been his rise, equally great and fatal was his fall.

No sooner was his disgrace resolved upon than the Great Seal was taken from him, his vast possessions were confiscated, he was banished to his house at Asher, and informations were filed against him by the Attorney-General.

Such a tempest of misfortunes broke at once over the head of the unhappy man that his calamities seemed without end, and the ruin of his fortunes was speedily followed by the destruction of his health.

When great men fall, their pseudo friends of prosperous days fall away also. Such friendship but blossoms in the sunshine, it ever withers and dies when clouds obscure their sun.

In this time of cruel adversity, but very few of his many followers remained faithful to the once mighty Cardinal. Of these few the chief was his secretary, Thomas Cromwell, who proved his fidelity not only by his steady adherence to his master, but also by stoutly soliciting the Court in his favour.

As Cromwell's rank did not entitle him to admittance to the King's presence, he was compelled to have recourse to one of the Secretaries of State.

It was to Gardiner that he addressed himself, and it is to that Minister's credit that although, on account of Henry's hasty and tyrannical temper, the task involved considerable risk, the quondam secretary did not desert his old patron and master, but interceded for him with skill, if without much heartiness.

The unhappy Cardinal's letters at this time are most dismal. In one of them, to Thomas Cromwell, he says he has written it "with his rude hand and sorrowful heart," and he signs himself, "T. Carlis. Ebor misserrimus" (the most miserable Thomas, Cardinal of York).

Gardiner at this time was devoting himself to the difficult task of obtaining from the Heads of the Colleges and from the learned men belonging to the University of Cambridge, their declaration in the King's cause, a business that required no small amount of dexterity and artifice.

His efforts were successful. So brilliant an exploit must needs be rewarded, and his rise in the Church was rapid. In the spring of 1531, he was made Archdeacon of Leicester, and in November of the same year he was installed Bishop of Winchester.

"I have often squared" (meaning passed over) "with you, Gardiner," said the King, when he gave his Minister this valuable preferment, "but I love you never the worse, as the Bishoprick I now give will convince you."

The newly-made Bishop sat with Dr. Cranmer, then Archbishop of Canterbury, when that prelate declared Queen Katherine's marriage with the King to be null and void, May 23rd, 1533. He was then sent to Marseilles to intimate to the Pope and the French King, that in case difficulties should be made respecting the divorce, the King of England would appeal to a General Council.

On his return home he was called upon, together with all the other Bishops, to acknowledge Henry as Supreme Head of the Church; and his pen was henceforth constantly employed in vindicating Henry's proceedings, both respecting that monarch's divorce and subsequent marriage, and also with regard to his having thrown off the dominion of the See of Rome.

Gardiner's writings on these difficult subjects obtained for him at the time the highest reputation.

During this period of religious agitation, a strange spirit prevailed amongst all classes of people, of whatever denomination of religion they might be.

Though all needed tolerance, none would grant it. On the contrary, intolerance and bigotry seemed to rule every man's heart. Even those who, whilst they were themselves undergoing its sufferings, had groaned the loudest under persecution, were, when relieved, equally loud in their opposition to the smallest indulgence being extended to those who differed from them in opinion.

Whichever might be the party in the ascendant, its leaders were urged on to institute persecutions and trials, and to enforce executions whenever a doctrine was started to which they did not agree.

Some writers assert that Gardiner was vindictive and cruel; others, that he was forced tacitly to permit proceedings of which he disapproved, and of which he would willingly have mitigated the severity.

Others again say that the King's love of power, and his desire to show himself as a true son of the Church, although he had assumed her temporal headship, induced him to bear witness to his faith by severe measures, whenever her authority in doctrines was impugned by his subjects.

Certain it is, that now began a series of religious persecutions that cast shame and disgrace upon all who professed the name of Christ.

His holy Church on earth, far from being a tender mother to poor, suffering, and ignorant mortals, became a by-word for cruelty and bigotry, a very Moloch, who desired the sacrifice of her children both by fire and by the sword.

What can men deem are the chief attributes of the Almighty, that to give Him pleasure it is necessary to torture and put to death the children that His dear Son came to save?

It is sickening to read the list of those who suffered for religion's sake during the latter part of Henry's reign, and during the whole of the reign of his daughter, Queen Mary.

A Frenchman writing at this time from England, tells his friend in Latin:

"They have a strange way of managing in England, for those who are for the Pope are hanged, and those who are against him are burnt."

Henry also each year became more tyrannical and overbearing. He brooked neither opposition nor contradiction. His humours were so capricious that even his Ministers were constantly in personal danger, it being impossible to foresee how much involved the King might choose to consider them in the schisms that were being brought to the Royal notice.

Gardiner was certainly once in very considerable peril.

His young kinsman and secretary, Germain Gardiner, having been suspected of denying the King's supremacy, had been tried, condemned, and executed, and Gardiner's enemies sought to implicate the Bishop in his secretary's treasonable opinions.

Those who view Gardiner's character mercifully, urge that in order to secure his own safety and that of his relatives, he was driven into assenting rather than being a party to the numerous cruel executions that now sullied the history of this country.

Gardiner ultimately lost the King's favour, from having drawn up a paper of articles against Queen Katherine Parr.

It appears that, as usual, Henry had conceived some jealous suspicions of his Queen, and had directed the Bishop of Winchester to prepare these statements against her.

This important document having been confided to Chancellor Wriothesley, in order that the Queen should be committed to the Tower, he by accident or design let it drop from his bosom. It was picked up by a friendly hand, and immediately conveyed to the Princess.

Katherine so wrought upon the King's affection, that she not only succeeded in allaying his jealous fears and quieting his suspicions, but she also so excited his resentment against the writer of the accusations against her, that from that day Henry would never again see Gardiner.

It is also believed that this incident was the cause of the Bishop's name not being included in the list of the King's executors.

At one time, so high did Gardiner stand in the King's estimation, that Henry had resolved not only to nominate him as an executor, but also to direct that he should be a member of the Council to whom would be entrusted the executive power during the minority of his son.

Here again, however, is difference of opinion amongst historians, some writers asserting that it was not the animosity of Queen Katherine Parr, but the friendship of the Duke of Norfolk and his family, that proved the ruin of Gardiner's fortunes at this period.

Henry having become jealous of that powerful noble, seized upon every opportunity of humbling his relatives and friends.

But this, as well as most of the events of Gardiner's life, have been related by contemporary writers with such violence of partisanship, that it is difficult to ascertain the truth.

To Gardiner, however, must be assigned the merit that both during the life, and after the death of the King his master, he ever spoke and wrote of him in terms of much deference and respect.

Upon the accession of Edward VI. Archbishop Cranmer laboured earnestly to establish the great work of the Reformation on a firm basis, and was very desirous to obtain Gardiner's assistance, or, at any rate, his concurrence in his plans.

But this wily prelate would neither concur nor disagree with Cranmer's schemes. His ruling maxim had ever been to keep things quiet, and he asserted that this could not be done were any great alterations made either in Church or State.

He agreed in the wisdom with which the Archbishop sought to establish the Reformed religion, and also in his desire to do away with superstitious practices, but he saw grave objections to the innovation being attempted at present.

The King's youth and feeble health, the necessary absence of the Protector Somerset, who was detained in Scotland by military duty, made the future not only doubtful, but gloomy; and Gardiner was of opinion that it would be injudicious to disturb the present Church government.

However, Cranmer carried his point in so far as having a Royal Commission appointed for the purpose of visiting each diocese.

The Bishop of Winchester, notwithstanding his love of peace, opposed this measure, and refused to allow the Commissioners to enter his diocese. For this contumacy he was committed to the Fleet Prison.

His imprisonment there was not severe, the Warden of the Fleet being his friend, neither did it last long, and when released he returned to his diocese, and addressed himself zealously but quietly to his duties there.

This calm, however, was not of long duration, for within the year he was summoned to preach in London on St. Peter Day, and his doctrines so offended the Council that he was sent to the Tower where he remained a prisoner during the remainder of Edward's reign.

After Edward's death, Somerset visited Gardiner in prison with a view of effecting his release.

Gardiner readily expressed his approval of all that had been done to establish the Reformed religion, and promised for the future obedience to Royal authority, but he would not acknowledge that he had been guilty of contumacy in the past. On this point he was immovable, protesting that he was innocent in every respect.

He was brought before the Privy Council, and then three months were given to him for reflection.

When this period had expired, as the Bishop remained in the same sentiments, it was resolved to proceed judicially against him in order to deprive him of the See of Winchester.

He then refused to sign the articles that had been sent him previously, and to which he had in a measure assented, and he vehemently demanded to be tried as to the grounds of his imprisonment.

But the Privy Council refused his prayer, and his bishopric was sequestrated.

All these proceedings were much censured as being contrary to the liberties of Englishmen, and contrary also to all forms of legal procedure. It was thought very hard that a man should be put in prison solely from a complaint having been made against him, and still more hard that after two years' durance, and without further inquiry, articles should be put to him for his signature.

Such actions were quite indefensible upon any constitutional principles.

Archbishop Cranmer greatly deprecated this illegal harshness, for he foresaw the injurious consequences.

Such ill-timed severity would inevitably drive men like Gardiner, Tonstall, and Day, who had already acknowledged the King's supremacy, back to the Church of Rome, and the progress of the Reformation must thereby be sorely hindered.

And so it proved.

During the few remaining years of Edward's life, Gardiner remained in the Tower, a prisoner, and yet not strictly kept, for during this period he wrote many controversial pieces, and several Latin poems, besides putting into verse some of the most beautiful and poetical passages in the books of Ecclesiastes, Wisdom, and Job.

On the 3rd August, 1553, Queen Mary made her solemn entry into the Tower, when Bishop Gardiner, for himself, and also in the name of his fellow prisoners, the Duke of Norfolk, the Duchess of Somerset, Lord Courtney, and others of high rank, delivered a congratulatory speech to Her Majesty, who at its conclusion gave them their liberty.

On August 8th, he, with Archbishop Cranmer, and in the presence of the Queen, performed the obsequies of the late King Edward VI. The young monarch was buried in Westminster Abbey, and the ceremonial was the English funeral service.

The next day Bishop Gardiner again took possession of Winchester House, Southwark, after an imprisonment of rather more than five years. On the 23rd, he was declared Chancellor of England.

On the 1st October he had the honour of crowning the Queen, and on the 5th of the same month he opened the first Parliament of her reign.

He was also again restored to his academical honours, and was re-elected Master of Trinity Hall.

Not only were distinctions and emoluments thus showered upon him, but the esteem that the Queen manifestly had for him, and the confidence she reposed in him, led to his being speedily endowed with an unusually large share of civil as well as ecclesiastical power.

Mary was exceedingly anxious on three points.

The first was to substantiate the legitimacy of her birth by annulling her mother's divorce; the second was to effect the restoration of the old religion in England, and to reconcile this country to Rome; and thirdly, she eagerly desired to obtain the consent of Parliament to her marriage with Prince Philip of Spain.

In all these difficult and important matters Bishop Gardiner aided her with marvellous sagacity and unflagging zeal.

Thus it came to pass that the same man who procured the divorce for the father, obtained for the daughter the reversal of that divorce.

Now it was, in these days of triumph and success, that Gardiner gave evidence of his ambition, and of his time-serving nature. To preserve his ascendency over a weak and obstinate woman, he allowed himself to yield many points of which he disapproved, and then, having begun to swim with the stream, he found himself compelled to go faster and farther than he had intended.

The Spanish match was as distasteful to him as it was to the bulk of the nation, foreseeing, as he did, that it would involve this country in great expense, and that it would not tend to increase either the happiness or the good disposition of the Queen.

Unhappily, Mary had inherited obstinacy and violence of temper from her father, and a jealous and melancholy temperament from her ill-used mother.

All the early years of her life had been overshadowed by misfortune and insult, and she had been taught to believe that her sorrows mostly arose from the sinfulness of the nation in resisting the authority of the Church to which she belonged.

Unattractive in mind as well as in person, she loved a man who cared but little, if at all, for her, who had only consented to the marriage from motives of policy, and whose morose and sullen manners embittered the rare visits he accorded to his wife.

However great were Gardiner's errors, not only as a religious bigot, but as an unscrupulous and ambitious statesman, it must be remembered to his credit, that he was ever zealous in preserving what he deemed the constitution of his country, especially so in guarding her from the encroachments of foreigners.

To preserve his own power, he yielded against his judgment to the Queen's desire for her marriage with Philip of Spain, but in drawing up the articles of the marriage contract he took care so to frame them, that they would not only be passed easily by the English Parliament, but also that the Spaniards should be entirely excluded from any share in the Government of England.

To Philip was granted the "Title" of King of England, and his likeness was to be united to that of the Queen upon every coin and seal, but Mary's signature alone sufficed to give authority to all deeds and acts.

No Spaniard could hold office in this country.

The Queen could not be obliged to leave England, nor any child, should there be children, without the consent of Parliament.

The Queen was to have a jointure of £40,000 a year from Spain, and £20,000 from the Netherlands. Should the Queen have only daughters, they were to succeed to her throne, and have from Spain the usual portions of kings' daughters.

Should Philip survive the Queen, he was to have no share in the English Government.

Such stringent conditions appeared very disadvantageous to Spain; but so great was Philip's desire to obtain a foothold in England, that he yielded every point, believing, probably, that when once firmly established in this country, his own influence, combined with the power of the Church of Rome, would overcome much opposition and enable him to gain important concessions.

Parliament passed the Bill, and all obstacles to the marriage being now removed, King Philip, attended and accompanied by a magnificent suite of nobles, and escorted by a large fleet, put to sea, and arrived at Southampton at the end of July, 1554.

From thence he proceeded to the Palace at Winchester, where he was magnificently entertained by the Bishop. The following day he was solemnly married to the Queen by that prelate in the Cathedral of Winchester.

The newly-married pair made their entry into London with every circumstance of pomp and splendour.

At Windsor the King was installed a Knight of the Garter, and whenever he and the Queen appeared in public they were received by the people with universal acclamation.

But this pleasant and joyful state of things was not to be of long duration.

Philip speedily gave evidence of the distaste he felt for his bride, who, poor woman, had not only the misfortune of having an unlovely and unlovable countenance, but was also afflicted with a peevish and jealous temper. She was well aware how little attractive she was, and therefore suspected and disliked every woman who approached her. Her half-sister and heir, Elizabeth, was especially the object of her jealous fears.

This Princess, however, behaved with so much prudence and fortitude that she gave no loophole for the attacks of her enemies. Still, despite her care and prudence, and through the machinations of Gardiner and Cardinal Pole, she was sent to the Tower; but she was saved from perhaps a worse fate by her brother-in-law, Philip of Spain, who interceded in her behalf.

There is much reason to believe that of the two Philip much preferred the younger sister, and as Queen Mary was in bad health and her life most precarious, he hoped to marry Elizabeth after his wife's death.

The unhappy Queen, in the bitter disappointment occasioned by her marriage, again turned to her Church for consolation, and in spite of the King's and the Chancellor's opposition, insisted upon Cardinal Pole's coming to England, armed with a license under the Queen's Great Seal to exercise his functions as the Pope's Legate.

Soon after Pole's arrival, the Houses of Lords and Commons presented a petition to the King and Queen, praying that the nation might again be received into the bosom of the Catholic Church.

The Cardinal, after a lengthy oration, granted the petition, absolving the people of England, and declaring them reconciled to the See of Rome.

But the joy attendant on this proclamation was speedily troubled by the revival of the sanguinary laws for the repression of what was now called heresy.

These laws were speedily carried into execution with much rigour, and a bloody persecution was set on foot in almost all parts of the kingdom.

Whether this persecution was actively concurred in, or only passively submitted to by the Bishop of Winchester, is a matter of doubt. On one side he ever showed himself of the popular opinion by siding with Cardinal Pole when they sat together on various commissions. On the other hand, he saved the lives of many Protestants by merely locking them up until quieter and more peaceable days should come.

These were indeed dismal and dreadful times. A frightful religious zeal prevailed in the minds of men, inducing them, under colour of promoting the Gospel, to act precisely contrary to its spirit.

Gardiner, no doubt, had his share, and a large one, in these barbarous proceedings; but the whole reproach of these savage cruelties must not rest upon his memory.

It is certain that when there were hopes of an heir to the throne, the Chancellor induced the Queen to restore several prisoners to liberty. He went in person to the Tower on January 18th, 1555, and released the Archbishop of York, Sir Edward Rogers, Sir James Crofts, Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, Sir Edward Warner, Sir George Harper, Sir William Saintlow, Sir Gawin Carew, Sir Andrew Dudley, William Gibs, Cuthbert Vaughan, John Harrington, John Tremain, and others of less note.

It must not be forgotten, also, that during Mary's second Parliament, far from advocating the stringent laws that were in course of preparation against heretics, as persons of the Reformed religion were now called, he endeavoured to mitigate their severity; but in this, as in other matters, he was borne on by the stream of Royal and popular opinion, and, perhaps, compelled to acquiesce in proceedings of which he disapproved.

Thus Henry's severities and injustice were now emulated and surpassed by Mary's severities and cruelty.

If Gardiner disapproved in his heart of the persecution of heretics, his clemency or merciful inclinations did but little or nothing towards diminishing the frightful number of blazing piles that day by day consumed the bodies of miserable victims of religious fury.

Tortured by jealous love, unblessed with children, the unhappy Mary turned with increased fervour to religion as her only solace. Convinced, as she was, that the Church alone could afford relief to her sorrows, the bigotry of her nature and education demanded the holocaust of thousands of victims to appease the anger of an offended Deity.