II fullest assent to the procuring and the exercise of CHAP the legatine powers of Wolsey at the time they were asked for, and afterwards It may, indeed, be doubted whether this assent and license sufficed technically to override the law, which forbade the admission of any legate a latere into England. But, considering what the power of the crown was in those days, and that the King's license for the evasion of the act held good in other cases, there is really no reason for saying that Wolsey tampered with the rights of the crown and with the laws of the land when he ventured to act as legate. No All parties doubt, he and the King, and others also, considered that the royal license gave him full legal permission to do so; and what was done in the matter, whether by the Pope, the King, or Wolsey himself, was done in good faith, and on what were believed to be constitutional principles. acted in good faith Westmin- Shortly after Wolsey had been made joint-legate, Council of with sole authority respecting visitation of the mon- ster, D. asteries, he called together a council of the English 1519 bishops and some abbots, which met at Westminster on the Monday after Ash-Wednesday, in the year 1519, it having been postponed from September 9 of the previous year, in consequence of the plague. At this council, some constitutions for the reformation of the Church were agreed upon, which were afterwards published to the clergy at diocesan synods, summoned for the purpose by each bishop. Very little, unfortunately, is known about this council, nor is it certain that the constitutions attributed to it are really of that date. Perhaps • Wilkins' Conc., iii. 660, 661, 681, 682. 7 ln Strype's Ecc. Mem., I. ii. 25, there is an interesting letter from II CHAP it was not to be expected that much should be effected at this first step, and Wolsey may have summoned the bishops chiefly for the purpose of making them officially acquainted with his newly acquired authority and his intentions. Attempt at monastic tion But as soon as those intentions became known, reforma- they began to meet with opposion. "I perceive by your letters," wrote John Penny, Bishop of Carlisle, "your desire to repress the vices and errors which are beginning to spread through Christendom. Though a hard task, it will be to your glory." The opposition came partly from the old-fashioned clergy, who were disposed to set up Archbishop Warham as their champion. But it took the most tangible form in the hands of the Friars Observants or Franciscans, who refused altogether to recognise the Cardinal's visitatorial authority, and took a certain method of delay, that of an appeal to the Pope.1 Wolsey seems, however, to have entered into amicable arrangements with other orders, and there is an interesting account among the State Papers of Some ac- the formal submission to him of the Augustinians, quiesce in for the purpose of reformation at his hands. On June 16, 1518, the canons of that order, to the number of 170, of whom 36 were prelati, met at the Abbey of St. Mary, Leicester, and after the processions, or litany, had been sung, listened to a the move ment the aged Fox, Bishop of Winches- 77 8 Brewer's Calend. St. Pap., iii. 9 Ibid. iii. 77 (6). 1 They seem eventually to have submitted, Leo X. writing to that effect to Wolsey. [Ibid. iii. 569.] 2 Ibid. ii., App. 48. II the Augus sermon preached by Dr. Bell, from the significant CHAP text, "Wisdom hath builded her house." Returning to the chapter-house, a discussion took place on the reformation of the order. On Monday, an elegant sermon was preached by Peter Hardyng, Prior of Bridlington, on the text, "Egredere de terra tua ;" and after various business a letter was read from the Cardinal, dated Beaconsfield, June 12, 1518, in which the writer insisted on the importance of learning as the greatest preservative of the Catholic faith, and the great distinction between men and brutes. He could not, he said, observe without regret, that so few men of that religious Especially order applied themselves to study, and he expressed tinians his determination to found a college for the order, the members of which should give themselves exclusively to learning. On the Wednesday reports of the visitors were received, and thanks given to the Cardinal for his letter, his Grace being admitted as a confrere of the chapter, and commissioned to reform the statutes of the college at Oxford, under the general authority of the order. Visitors were reappointed, and the next chapter ordered to be held at St. Frideswide's, Oxford. This was communicated to Wolsey the same day; the chapter writing to acquaint him that he was appointed a brother of the order and a participator of all its benefits, and submitting themselves entirely to his authority as a reformer. It is very significant to find this record But they end with a statement that the reason why the discip- pramunire line of the order was so bad was, that the superiors were afraid of the statute of præmunire being brought to bear upon them if they should correct offending brethren. On March 22, 1519-20. Wolsey fear the II CHAP issued new statutes for the Augustinians, in which he endeavoured to bring them back to a stricter observance of their rule, to a more ascetic life, and to the cultivation of learning.3 larity at Cambridge At the same time that Wolsey was thus drawing the monastic orders into a friendly acquiescence with his plans for their reformation, he was also getting into his hands the supreme control of the His popu- universities for the same purpose. Each of them had long before given him special tokens of their and Oxford respect, for as early as May 1514 (when Erasmus was Margaret Professor of Divinity), Cambridge had offered him the chancellorship, which he declined; * and in 1515, Oxford had sent him an official intimation that his name was for the future to be mentioned in the Bidding Prayer by preachers of that university. Perhaps there was something of gratitude for benefits expected in these rather eager tokens of university respect; but there seems to have been a feeling of mutual affection between Wolsey and Oxford which made him seek her reformation by many noble acts of munificence, culminating in the foundation of Christ Church. Wolsey seems to have taken the opportunity of a royal visit to Oxford for first broaching the subject of his intentions. About Easter, 1518, the King and Queen were at Abingdon, and Wolsey with them. The Queen paid a visit to the University, and was accompanied by the Cardinal, addresses being made 3 Wilkins' Concilia, iii., 683. It is curious to find that while permitting the use of organs, these statutes of Wolsey forbid "prick ong," or elaborate singing, and enjoined "plain song." The minute attention given to discipline is illustrated by one which regulates the access of laundresses to the monastery. Ellis' Orig. Letters, III. i. 168. 5 Brewer's Calend. St. Pap., i. 934. II to them both by the public orator. In reply to that CHAP addressed to himself, Wolsey declared that he had the welfare of Oxford very much at heart, and proposed to show his great interest in the University by founding several professorships and by reforming the statutes. This proposition was received with gratitude by the University at large; but Archbishop Warham, who was chancellor, objected at first to throw so much power into the hands of one person, and seems to have given up his own opinion in deference to that of the University when he consented, in the end, that Wolsey's proposal should be complied with. He, however, signified his assent in a letter to the University, dated at Oxford, May 22, 1518; and it is no slight evidence of the Cardinal's popularity there that a vote of convocation placed the University statutes entirely in his power, for the purpose of reformation, within about a week afterwards, the document being dated June 1st." seven pro The first use which Wolsey made of the power Founds thus placed in his hands, was to establish the pro- fessorships fessorships which he had promised. These were at Oxford seven in number, namely, those of Theology, Civil Law, Medicine, Rhetoric, Mathematics, and Greek. All the endowments of these were forfeited to the King on the Cardinal's fall, and the professorships dropped in consequence. But a few years later four 7 Fiddes' Wolsey, Collect., p. 34. A year later, on July 14th, 1519, the University wrote to Wolsey, saying that the students had much profited by the Readerships which he had founded. [Fiddes, Ibid.] About the same time Erasmus highly commends the heroic courage of the Cardinal, to whom Oxford owes so much for its im- |