MarginaliaQueene Anne.for that his Maiestie hath takē the most excellent & most vertuous lady Anne to wyfe, which in very dede is farre otherwise, and nothing so: to the entent therfore that all true hartye fauourers of the Gospell of Christ, whiche hate not, but loue the truth, maye the more fully vnderstand the chiefe poynt of the cōtrouersie, and because they shall not be ignorant what is the whole voyce and resolute determination of the beste and grettyst learned Bishopes, with all the nobles and commons of England, not onely in that cause of matrimonie, MarginaliaThe doctrine of the Gospell.but also in defending the doctrine of þe Gospel: here shall be published the oration of the Byshop of Winchester
There can be little doubt that Gardiner was one of the premier scholars of his time. He appears to have been studying at Paris when he met Erasmus in 1511 (age 15); studied Greek at Trinity Hall Cambridge (where he gained doctorates in both canon and civil law c.1520/1). He was also an able theologian. [See, Andrew A Chibi, 'The Intellectual and Academic Training of the Henrician Episcopacy', in Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 91 (2000), pp.354-72].
[Back to Top]But be thou most surely persuaded of this, good reader, þt the B. of Rome, if there were no cause els but onely this mariage, would easely contēt hym selfe, specially hauing some good morsel or other geuē him to chaw vpon. MarginaliaBonner knewe well what morsell would best please hys father of Rome, and that money and bribes would soone stoppe hys mouth.But when he seith so mighty a kyng, beyng a right vertuous and a great learned Prince, so sincerely & so hartly fauour the Gospell of Christ, and perceiueth the yearelye and great praye (ye so large a praye, that it came to as much almost as all the kynges reuenues) snapped out of hys handes, and that hee can no longer exercise hys tyranny in the kynges maiesties realme Marginalia* Seing thou knewest the pope to be such a cruell tyrant, why then wouldest thou against thy knowledge, become his slaughterman?(* alas heretofore, to cruell and bitter) nor make lawes as hee hath done many to the contumelie and reproche of the maiestie of God, whiche is euident that he hath done in tyme past, vnder the title of the Catholicke Churche and the authoritie of Peter and Paule, (when not withstandyng he was a very rauenyng wolfe dressed in shepes clothyng callyng him self the seruaunt of seruauntes) to the great damage of the Christen common wealth: here, here began all the mischief, thereof rose these discordes, these deadly malices, and so great and terrible bustlyng. For if it were not thus, could any man beleue that this Iupiter of Olympus (which falsely hath arrogated vnto him selfe an obsolute power without controlment) would haue wrought so diligently by all meanes possible, to styrre vp all other kynges and princes so traiterously agaynst this so good and godly and so true a Gospellyke Prince, as he hath done? Neither let it moue thee (gentle reader) that Winchester did not before now, applye to this opinion, for hee hym selfe in this Oration sheweth the cause, why he did it not. And if he had sayd neuer a worde, yet thou knowest well what a wittye part it is for a man to suspend his iudgement, and not to be to rashe in geuyng of sentence. MarginaliaWint. wryteth agaynst the pope with aduised iudgement.It is an olde sayd sawe: Mary Magdalene
Mary was the first person to whom the risen Christ appeared (John 20.17). Thomas' doubts about the risen Christ are found in John 20.19-31.
Bonner is referring to the great 3rd century B.C. Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, who was also called 'Cunctator' or 'the Delayer' (for his successful tactics during the second Punic War.
Thou shouldest gentle reader, esteme his censure and authoritie to be of more weighty credence, in asmuch as the matter was not rashlye and at all aduentures, but with Iudgement (as thou seest) and with wisedome examined and discussed. MarginaliaNo newe matter, to write agaynst the Byshop of Rome.And this is no new example, to be agaynst þe tyrannye of þe B. of Rome, seyng that not onely this man, but many men often tymes, yea & right great learned mē afore now, haue done þe same euē in writing, wherby they both painted him out in his ryght colours, and made hys sleightes, falshode, fraudes, and disceitfull wiles openly knowē to þe world. Therfore if thou at any tyme heretofore haue doubted either of true obedience, or of the kynges maiesties mariage, or title, either els of the Byshop of Romes false pretensed supremacie, as if thou haddest a good smellyng nose and a sound Iudgemēt, I thinke thou didest not: yet hauyng read this Oration, MarginaliaNote.(whiche if thou fauour the truth, and hate the tyrannye of the Byshop of Rome and his Satanicall fraudulent falshode, shall doubtles wonderfully cōtent thee) forsake thyne errour and acknowledge the truth now frely offred thee at length, cōsideryng with thy selfe, that it is better late so to do, then neuer to repente. Fare thou hartly well most gentle reader, and not onely loue thys most valyaunt kyng of Englād and of Fraunce, who vndoubtedly was by the prouidence of God, borne to defēd the Gospell, but also honour hym and serue hym most obediently. As for this Winchester, who was long ago without doubt reputed among the greatest learned mē, geue hym thy good worde with highest commendatiōs.
[Back to Top]The end of Byshop Boners Prologe.
MarginaliaThe incōstant mutabilitie of Wint. and Boner.What man readyng and aduising this booke of Winchester De vera obedientia, with Boners preface before the same, would euer haue thought, any alteration could so worke in mans harte, to make these men thus to turne the catte (as they say) in the panne, and to starte so sodenly from the truth so manifestly knowen, so pithely proued, so vehemently defended, & (as it seemed) so faythfully subscribed. If they dissēbled all this that they wrote, subscribed, & sware vnto: what periurie most execrable was it before God and mā? If they ment good fayth, and spake then as they thought, what pestilent blindes is this so sodenly fallē vpō thē, to make that false now, which was true before, or that to be now true, whiche before was false? Thus to say and vnsay, and then to say agayn, to do and vndoe, and as a man would say, to play fast or loose with truth, truly a man may say, is not the doyng of a man, whiche is in any case to be trusted, what soeuer he doth or sayth. But here a mā may see what man is of hym self, when Gods good humble spirite lacketh to be his guide.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaThe Sermon of Tonstall before the king, made on Palme Sonday.Furthermore, to adde vnto them, the iudgement also
This was published as A sermon of Cuthbert Tonstall, Bishop of Durham, Preached on Palm Sunday, 1539, before King Henry VIII (London, 1823). The original was published in London by the T Berthelet press in 1539.