Chapter V

DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING THE DIVORCE AT OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE.
(WINTER OF 1530.)

[Sidenote: Wiltshire’s Departure.]

At the same time that Henry sent ambassadors to Italy to obtain the pope’s consent, he invited all the universities of Christendom to declare that the question of divorce was of divine right, and that the pope had nothing to say about it. It was his opinion that the universal voice of the Church ought to decide, and not the voice of one man.

First, he attempted to canvass Cambridge, and, as he wanted a skilful man for that purpose, he applied to Wolsey’s old servant, Stephen Gardiner, an intelligent, active, wily churchman and a good catholic. One thing alone was superior to his catholicism,—his desire to win the king’s favor. He aspired to rise like the cardinal to the summit of greatness. Henry named the chief almoner, Edward Fox, as his colleague.

Arriving at Cambridge one Saturday about noon, in the latter half of February, the royal commissioners held a conference in the evening with the vice-chancellor (Dr. Buckmaster), Dr. Edmunds, and other influential men who had resolved to go with the court. But these doctors, members of the political party, soon found themselves checked by an embarrassing support on which they had not calculated; it was that of the friends of the Gospel. They had been convinced by the writing which Cranmer had published on the divorce. Gardiner and the members of the conference, hearing of the assistance which the evangelicals desired to give them, were annoyed at first. On the other hand, the champions of the court of Rome, alarmed at the alliance of the two parties who were opposed to them, began that very night to visit college after college, leaving no stone unturned that the peril might be averted. Gardiner, uneasy at their zeal, wrote to Henry VIII:—‘As we assembled, they assembled; as we made friends, they made friends.’[41] Dr. Watson, Dr. Tomson, and other fanatical individuals at one time shouted very loudly, at another spoke in whispers.[42] They said that Anne Boleyn was a heretic, that her marriage with Henry would hand England over to Luther; and they related to those whom they desired to gain—wrote Gardiner to the king—‘many fables too tedious to repeat to your Grace.’ These ‘fables’ would not only have bored Henry, but greatly irritated him.

[Sidenote: A Noisy Meeting.]

The vice-chancellor, flattering himself that he had a majority, notwithstanding these clamors, called a meeting of the doctors, bachelors of divinity, and masters of arts, for Sunday afternoon. About two hundred persons assembled, and the three parties were distinctly marked out. The most numerous and the most excited were those who held for the pope against the king. The evangelicals were in a minority, but were quite as decided as their adversaries, and much calmer. The politicians, uneasy at seeing the friends of Latimer and Cranmer disposed to vote with them, would have, however, to accept of their support, if they wished to gain the victory. They resolved to seize the opportunity offered them. ‘Most learned senators,’ said the vice-chancellor, ‘I have called you together because the great love which the king bears you engages me to consult your wisdom.’ Thereupon Gardiner and Fox handed in the letter which Henry had given them, and the vice-chancellor read it to the meeting. In it the king set forth his hopes of seeing the doctors unanimous to do what was agreeable to him. The deliberations commenced, and the question of a rupture with Rome soon began to appear distinctly beneath the question of the divorce. Edmunds spoke for the king, Tomson for the pope. There was an interchange of antagonistic opinions and a disorder of ideas among many; the speakers grew warm; one voice drowned another, and the confusion became extreme.[43]

The vice-chancellor, desirous of putting an end to the clamor, proposed referring the matter to a committee, whose decision should be regarded as that of the whole university, which was agreed to. Then, seeing more clearly that the royal cause could not succeed without the help of the evangelical party, he proposed some of its leaders—Doctors Salcot, Reps, Crome, Shaxton, and Latimer—as members of the committee. On hearing these names, there was an explosion of murmurs in the meeting. Salcot, Abbot of St. Benet’s, was particularly offensive to the doctors of the Romish party. ‘We protest,’ they said, ‘against the presence in the committee of those who have approved of Cranmer’s book, and thus declared their opinion already.’ ‘When any matter is talked of all over the kingdom,’ answered Gardiner, ‘there is not a sensible man who does not tell his friends what he thinks about it.’ The whole afternoon was spent in lively altercation. The vice-chancellor, wishing to bring it to an end, said: ‘Gentlemen, it is getting late, and I invite every one to take his seat, and declare his mind by a secret vote.’[44] It was useless; no one took his seat; the confusion, reproaches, and declamations continued. At dark, the vice-chancellor adjourned the meeting until the next day. The doctors separated in great excitement, but with different feelings. While the politicians saw nothing else to discuss but the question of the king’s marriage, the evangelicals and the papists considered that the real question was this: Which shall rule in England—the Reformation or Popery?

The next day, the names of the members of the committee having been put to the vote, the meeting was found to be divided into two equal parties. In order to obtain a majority Gardiner undertook to get some of his adversaries out of the way. Going up and down the Senate-house, he began to whisper in the ears of some of the less decided; and, inspiring them either with hope or fear, he prevailed upon several to leave the meeting.[45]

The grace was then put to the vote a third time and passed. Gardiner triumphed. Returning to his room, he sent the list to the king. Sixteen of the committee, indicated by the letter A, were favorable to his majesty. ‘As for the twelve others,’ he wrote, ‘we hope to win most of them by _good means_.’ The committee met, and took up the royal demand. They carefully examined the passages of Holy Scripture, the explanations of translators, and gave their opinion.[46] Then followed the public discussion. Gardiner was not without fear; as there might be skilful assailants and awkward defenders, he looked out for men qualified to defend the royal cause worthily. It was a remarkable circumstance that, passing over the traditional doctors, he added to the defence—of which he and Fox were the leaders—two evangelical doctors, Salcot, Abbot of St. Benet’s, and Reps. He reserved to his colleague and himself the political part of the question; but notwithstanding all his catholicism, he desired that the scriptural reasons should be placed foremost. The discussion was conducted with great thoroughness,[47] and the victory remained with the king’s champions.

[Sidenote: Majority For The King.]

On the 9th of March, the doctors, professors, and masters having met after vespers in the priory hall, the vice-chancellor said: ‘It has appeared to us as most certain, most in accord with Holy Scripture, and most conformable to the opinions of commentators, that it is contrary to divine and natural law for a man to marry the widow of his brother dying childless.’[48] Thus the Scriptures were really, if not explicitly, declared by the university of Cambridge to be the supreme and only rule of Christians, and the contrary decisions of Rome were held to be not binding. The Word of God was avenged of the long contempt it had endured, and, after having been put below the pope’s word, was now restored to its lawful place. In this matter Cambridge was right.

[Sidenote: The King’s Letter To Oxford.]

It was necessary to try Oxford next. Here the opposition was stronger, and the popish party looked forward to a victory. Longland, Bishop of Lincoln and chancellor of the university, was commissioned by Henry to undertake the matter; Doctor Bell, and afterwards Edward Fox, the chief almoner, being joined with him. The king, uneasy at the results of the negotiation, and wishing for a favorable decision at any cost, gave Longland a letter for the university, through every word of which an undisguised despotism was visible. ‘We will and command you,’ he said, ‘that ye, not leaning to wilful and sinister opinions of your own several minds, considering that we be your sovereign liege lord, and totally giving your affections to the true overtures of divine learning in this behalf, do show and declare your true and just learning in the said cause.... And we, for your so doing, shall be to you and to our university there so good and gracious a lord for the same, as ye shall perceive it well done in your well fortune to come. And in case you do not uprightly handle yourselves herein, we shall so quickly and sharply look to your unnatural misdemeanor herein, that it shall not be to your quietness and ease hereafter.... Accommodate yourselves to the mere truth; assuring you that those who do shall be esteemed and set forth, and the contrary neglected and little set by.... We doubt not that your resolution shall be our high contentation and pleasure.’

This royal missive caused a great commotion in the university. Some slavishly bent their heads, for the king spoke rod in hand. Others declared themselves convinced by the political reasons, and said that Henry must have an heir whose right to the throne could not be disputed. And, lastly, some were convinced that Holy Scripture was favorable to the royal cause. All men of age and learning, as well as all who had either capacity or ambition, declared in favor of the divorce. Nevertheless a formidable opposition soon showed itself.

The younger members of the Senate were enthusiastic for Catherine, the Church, and the pope. Their theological education was imperfect; they could not go to the bottom of the question, but they judged by the heart. To see a Catholic lady oppressed, to see Rome despised, inflamed their anger; and, if the elder members maintained that their view was the more reasonable, the younger ones believed theirs to be the more noble. Unhappily, when the choice lies between the useful and the generous, the useful commonly triumphs. Still, the young doctors were not prepared to yield. They said—and they were not wrong—that religion and morality ought not to be sacrificed to reasons of state, or to the passions of princes. And, seeing the spectre of Reform hidden behind that of the divorce, they regarded themselves as called upon to save the Church. ‘Alas!’ said the royal delegates, the Bishop of Lincoln and Dr. Bell, ‘alas! we are in continual perplexity, and we cannot foresee with any certainty what will be the issue of this business.’[49]

They agreed with the heads of houses that, in order to prepare the university, three public disputations should be solemnly held in the divinity schools. By this means they hoped to gain time. ‘Such disputations,’ they said, ‘are a very honorable means of amusing the multitude until we are sure of the consent of the majority.’[50] The discussions took place, and the younger masters, arranging each day what was to be done or said, gave utterance to all the warmth of their feelings.

When the news of these animated discussions reached Henry, his displeasure broke out, and those immediately around him fanned his indignation. ‘A great part of the youth of our university,’ said the king, ‘with contentious and factious manners, daily combine together.’... The courtiers, instead of moderating, excited his anger. Every day, they told him, these young men, regardless of their duty towards their sovereign, and not conforming to the opinions of the most virtuous and learned men of the university, meet together to deliberate and oppose his majesty’s views. ‘Hath it ever been seen,’ exclaimed the king, ‘that such a number of right small learning should stay their seniors in so weighty a cause?’[51] Henry, in exasperation, wrote to the heads of the houses: ‘_Non est bonum irritare crabrones_.’ It is not good to stir a hornet’s nest. This threat excited the younger party still more: if the term ‘hornet’ amused some, it irritated others. In hot weather, the hornet (the king) chases the weaker insects; but the noise he makes in flying forewarns them, and the little ones escape him. Henry could not hide his vexation; he feared lest the little flies should prove stronger than the big hornet. He was uneasy in his castle of Windsor; and the insolent opposition of Oxford pursued him wherever he turned his steps—on the terrace, in the wide park, and even in the royal chapel. ‘What!’ he exclaimed, ‘shall this university dare show itself more unkind and wilful than all other universities, abroad or at home?’[52] Cambridge had recognized the king’s right, and Oxford refused.

Wishing to end the matter, Henry summoned the High-Almoner Fox to Windsor, and ordered him to repeat at Oxford the victory he had gained at Cambridge. He then dictated to his secretary a letter to the recalcitrants: ‘We cannot a little marvel that you, neither having respect to our estate,—being your prince and sovereign lord,—nor yet remembering such benefits as we have always showed unto you, have hitherto refused the accomplishment of our desire. Permit no longer the private suffrages of light and wilful heads to prevail over the learned. By your diligence redeem the errors and delays past.

‘Given under our signet, at our castle of Windsor.’[53]

Fox was entrusted with this letter.

The Lord High-Almoner and the Bishop of Lincoln immediately called together the younger masters of the university, and declared that a longer resistance might lead to their ruin. But the youth of Oxford were not to be overawed by threats of violence. Lincoln had hardly finished when several masters of arts protested loudly. Some even spoke ‘very wickedly.’ Not permitting himself to be checked by such rebellion, the bishop ordered the poll to be taken. Twenty-seven voted for the king, and twenty-two against. The royal commissioners were not yet satisfied; they assembled all the faculties, and invited the members to give their opinion in turn. This intimidated many, and only eight or ten had courage enough to declare their opposition frankly. The bishop, encouraged by such a result, ordered that the final vote should be taken by ballot. Secrecy emboldened many of those who had not dared to speak; and, while thirty-one voted in favor of the divorce, twenty-five opposed it. That was of little consequence, as the two prelates had the majority. They immediately drew up the statute in the name of the university, and sent it to the king. After which the bishop, proud of his success, celebrated a solemn mass of the Holy Ghost.[54] The Holy Ghost had not, however, been much attended to in the business. Some had obeyed the prince, others the pope; and, if we desire to find those who obeyed Christ, we must look for them elsewhere.

[Sidenote: Latimer’s Evangelical Courage.]

The university of Cambridge was the first to send in its submission to Henry. The Sunday before Easter (1530), Vice-Chancellor Buckmaster arrived at Windsor in the forenoon. The court was at chapel, where Latimer, recently appointed one of the king’s chaplains, was preaching. The vice-chancellor came in during the service, and heard part of the sermon. Latimer was a very different man from Henry’s servile courtiers. He did not fear even to attack such of his colleagues as did not do their duty: ‘That is no godly preacher that will hold his peace, and not strike you with his sword that you smoke again.... Chaplains will not do their duties, but rather flatter. But what shall follow? Marry, they shall have God’s curse upon their heads for their labor. The minister must reprove without fearing any man, even if he be threatened with death.’[55] Latimer was particularly bold in all that concerned the errors of Rome which Henry VIII. desired to maintain in the English Church. ‘Wicked persons (he said),—men who despise God,—call out, “We are christened, therefore are we saved.” Marry, to be christened and not obey God’s commandments is to be worse than the Turks! Regeneration cometh from the Word of God. It is by believing this Word that we are born again.’[56]

Thus spoke one of the fathers of the British Reformation: such is the real doctrine of the Church of England; the contrary doctrine is a mere relic of popery.

As the congregation were leaving the chapel, the vice-chancellor spoke to the secretary (Cromwell) and the provost, and told them the occasion of his visit. The king sent a message that he would receive the deputation after evening service. Desirous of giving a certain distinction to the decision of the universities, Henry ordered all the court to assemble in the audience-chamber. The vice-chancellor presented the letter to the king, who was much pleased with it. ‘Thanks, Mr. Vice-Chancellor,’ he said; ‘I very much approve the way in which you have managed this matter. I shall give your university tokens of my satisfaction.... You heard Mr. Latimer’s sermon,’ he added, which he greatly praised, and then withdrew. The Duke of Norfolk, going up to the vice-chancellor, told him that the king desired to see him the following day.

The next day Dr. Buckmaster, faithful to the appointment, waited all the morning; but the king had changed his mind, and sent orders to the deputy from Cambridge that he might depart as soon as he pleased. The message had scarcely been delivered before the king entered the gallery. An idea which quite engrossed his mind urged him on; he wanted to speak with the doctor about the principle put forward by Cranmer. Henry detained Buckmaster from one o’clock until six, repeating, in every possible form, ‘Can the pope grant a dispensation when the law of God hath spoken?’[57] He even displayed much ill-humor before the vice-chancellor, because this point had not been decided at Cambridge. At last he quitted the gallery; and, to counterbalance the sharpness of his reproaches, he spoke very graciously to the doctor, who hurried away as fast as he could.

Footnote 41:

Burnet, _Records_, i.

Footnote 42:

‘In the ears of them.’—Ibid. p. 39.

Footnote 43:

‘Et res erat in multa confusione.’—Burnet, _Records_, i. p. 79,
Gardiner to the king.

Footnote 44:

‘To resort to his seat apart, every man’s mind to be known
secretly.’—Burnet, _Records_, i. p. 80.

Footnote 45:

‘To cause some to depart the house.’—Ibid.

Footnote 46:

‘S. Scripturæ locorum conferentes, tum etiam interpretum.’—Burnet,
_Records_, iii. p. 22.

Footnote 47:

‘Publicam disputationem matura deliberatione.’—Ibid.

Footnote 48:

‘Scrutatis diligentissime Sacræ Scripturæ locis.’—Burnet, _Records_,
iii. p. 22.

Footnote 49:

‘In doubt always.’—_State Papers_, i. p. 377.

Footnote 50:

‘Most convenient way to entertain the multitude.’—Ibid.

Footnote 51:

Burnet, _Records_, iii. p. 26.

Footnote 52:

Ibid.

Footnote 53:

Burnet, _Records_, iii. p. 26.

Footnote 54:

_State Papers_, i. p. 379, and note.

Footnote 55:

Latimer, _Sermons_ (Parker Soc.), pp. 46, 381.

Footnote 56:

Ibid. pp. 126, 471.

Footnote 57:

‘An papa potest dispensara.’—Burnet, _Records_, iii. p. 24.