The Acts of English Votaries, Title page – Preface
The Actes of Englysh votaryes, comprehendynge their vnchast practyses and examples by all ages, from the worldes begynnynge to thys present yeare, collected out of their owne legendes and Chronycles By Iohan Bale.
¶Lerne herin (good reader) to proue all spretes, and to iudge false myracles, rebukynge no Christen beleuer, but those obstynate hypocrytes onlye, whyche yet lyue after their popes olde rules. Reade, but laugh not.
O thu mayden of Chaldea, Thu shalt no more be called tender and plesaunt. Thy shame shall be dyscouered, aud thy preuytees shall be seane, for I (sayth the lorde) wyll auenge me of the, and no man shall let me.
Esa▪ 47.
❧ The preface of thys boke.
GIldas that auncyent Brytayne, in hys first treatyse of the dolorouse destruccyon of hys coutreye, hath thys worthye sentence agaynste them whych were the chefe cause therof▪ And borowed yt ys of the .xxiiii. chaptre of Salomons prouerbes. Who so euer cōmēdeth the wycked (sayth he) and reporteth them ryghtuouse or holye, the same shall ones hauehave the curse of the people, and the commynalte shall ab horre hym. Plentuouse hath the Popes clergye bene in thys poynt, specyallye in the churche here of Englande. Not onlye hauehave they commended vntounto vsus whoremō gers, bawdes, brybers, Idolaters, hypocrytes, trayters, and most fylthye Gomorreanes, as Godlye men and womē, but also they hauehave canonysed thē for most holye sayntes, sett them vp gylt Images in their temples, commāded their vygyls to be fasted, appoynted them holye dayes and the peoples to do them honoure with euēsonges, howres, processyons, lyghtes, masses, ryngynges, syngynges, sensynges, and the deuyll and all of soche heythnysh wares. They hauehave done by vsus as their olde predecessours the Idolatrouse prestes ded by the auncyeut Romanes. They hauehave set vsus vp a sort of lecherouse Goddes to be worshypped in our temples, to be our aduocates, and to helpe vsus in our nedes.Olde goddes &c. newe. In stede of Iupiter, Saturne, Mercurye, Mars, Iuno, Proserpina, Diana, and Venus, which ded all their feates in whoredome, as the poetes verefyethe, they hauehave geuen vsus Wenefryde, Cuthbert, Dunstane, Oswalde, Anselme, Becket, Brigyde, Audrye, Modwē, Edith, Osith, Ethelburge, and a great sort more of vnpure workers out of marryage.
Marke the lyues of their Englyshe sayntes, almost from the begynnynge, & ye shall not fynde one of them canonysed for preachynge Christes veryte a ryght, neyther yet for leadynge a lyfe after the perfyght rules of the Gospell. Not one commende they for worshyppynge God wythout mennys tradycyons, nor yet for executyuge the workes of Mercye, vnles se yt were to their aduauntage. Neuer reckened they wedlock anye Godlye estate of lyuyuge, though yt were an onlye ordre inſtytuted of God in the begyunynge, yea, for hys prestes also. Commōlye they hauehave dyswaded both men and women from yt, as from a most pernycyouse euyll,Dyffa▪ / or from a myschefe of all myschefes, callynge yt folyshnesse, fylthynesse, beastlynesse,macyōs of Marryage. a walkynge in darkenesse, a mayntenaūce of lechery, a fulfyllyng of fleshlye desyres, a grounde of all vyce, an entraunce of deathe, a corruptynge of maydenhode, a lake of myserye, a claye pytt of vnclēnesse, a thraldome of Egipt, a nette of Sathan, a snare of the deuyll, & a ponde of perdycyon, loke Iohan Capgraue in Catalogo sanctorum Anglie, specyallye in the lyues or legendes of Clarus, Eanswyde, kyneswyde, Etheldrede, we nefrede, Mylburge, and Myldrede with soche other lyke, aud ye shall fynde my wordes most true. In the hystorye of Saynt Vrsula hauehave they named thē Angels of darkenesse whych hath persuaded marryage laufull.blasphemye. Of whose nōbre was firste God the eternall Father, and thā Moses and the Prophetes for the olde lawe. And afterwarde Iesus Christe hys eternall Sonne, with Peter, Paule & the other apostles for the newe lawe. Were not the men (thynke yow) wele ouerseane?
So peruerse stomakes hauehave they borne to women, that the more part of their temptynge spretes they hauehave made she deuyls (loke their Sayntes legendes) but he that tempted Christ was an he deuyll, a relygyouse deuyll, and a prestlye deuyll. Whā they hauehave bene tempted with lecherouse spretes in the lykenesse of wō men,The deuyls. they hauehave (they saye) by the suffren vertu of holye water, turned them into denyls agayne. But neuer were they yet so comiyuge with all their holy water, as to make of theyr whores honest marryed women. No▪ yt is not their ordre, to do soche myracles In the lyfe of Saynt Godrick is mencyon of a ſhe deuyll, but in the conclusyon, he apereth with hangynge ware of no small quantyte, hauynge hys yonge ones folowynge hym with shauē crownes. Of a lykelyhode therfor he was some spyrytuall he tempter, and hys chyldren within holye orders. Soche power had Saynt Guthlake ouer those watchynge wormes, that he made them to tarrye with hym, and to buylde hym vp a monasterye at Asendyck, now called Crowlāde, some saye. To be short in thys matter.Sayntes vnmaryed Their sayntes in a maner were all vnmaryed. If anye were maryed that wolde nedes be sayntes, they were anō compelled by othe, or by the waye of penaunce, to leaue their makes to the occupyenge of others, the man hys wyfe, and the woman her husbande, as ye shall beholde in this boke by most plentuouse examples. For matrimonye hath euer bene suche a blacke bugge in their synagoge ād churche, that neuer wolde canonysacyon serue yet, where he was in place.
Notwithstandinge we are throughly assertayned by innumerable scripturs and argumentes, that matrymonye is of God, ād by their innumerable examples of fylthynesse, that their vowed wyuelesse and husbandelesse chastyte is altogyther of the deuyll.Votaryes. Sens the gloryouse aperaunce of the Gospell hauehave that Sodo mytycall swarme or brode of Antichrist (that ye call the spirytualte) bene oft tymes admonyshed of their fleshlye errours by the manyfest scripturs therof, that they shuld ones repent their most horryble myschefes, and graunt vntounto maryage the fredome due therunto. And what hauehave they done, thynke you? Nothynge els at all but laughed them to scorne, reportynge them to be but fables and lyes. The lerned allegacyons, reasons, & argumentes of Phylyp Melāchton,Christē doctors. Luther, Lambert, Pomerane, Barnes, and soche other, they hauehave hearde, but the answere is yet to make. They mocke and mowe at thē lyke Iack a napes, or lyke them which went vp & downe by the crosse whan Christ was crucyfyed, and that is ynough for them. For they hauehave yt of theyr popes lawe to answere no man, yea although they wryte theyr abhomynacyons to the vttermost, vnlesse they hauehave hym in preson. I hauehave therfor thought yt best,The antour. seynge they regarde not the sacred scrypturs, to laye before them their abhomynable practyses and examples of fylthynesse, by their owne legendes, chronycles, and sayntes Lyues, that all men maye knowe what legerdemaynes they hauehave vsed, and what lecherouse lyues they hauehave led here in Englande sens the worldes begynnynge. Lete them now be ashamed of their beastlynesse, or els put on their mothers face altogyther.
In the firste part of thys boke, maye men breuelye beholde how and by whom thys realme was first inhabyted, whiche thynge hath bene hytherto in all Englysh Chronycles,Chronycles. doubtfullye, vnagreablye, yea, and vntrulye treated, vponupon coniecturs, fantasyes, and lyes onlye, by reason of ignoraunce in the scripturs and moste auctorysed hystoryes. They shall also perceyue, what peoples hauehave here by all ages remayned, what doctryues, hath bene taught by their true and false prophetes, what worshyppynges of God they hauehave vsed, and what lawes in relygyon they hauehave folowed. Fynallye they shall knowe clerelye, the deceytfull workemā shyp of the instrumētes of Sathan, their byshoppes,prestes. prestes, & monkes, with other dysgysed locustes of the same generacyō. Whose contynuall stodye, labour, and sekynge was alwayes to blynde them by a colour of chast lyuynge,Maryage. makynge them to beleue, that their marryenge of wyues was a prophane layte, a brutysh beastlynesse, and a thynge which greatlye dyspleased God. Their owne vowynge of vyrgynyte was agayne (they sayd) a spirytuall ordre,Vyrgynyte. a lyfe of Angels, and an holye relygyon which pleased God aboue all other, what though they neuer had yt in their lyues. For true vyrginyte ys a fayth vncorrupted,Faythe or a beleue gouerned by the onlye worde of God without all superstycyons of men. Thys was the onlye vyrgynyte that Marye was commended of, Luce. 1. Thys vyrgynyte perteyneth chefelye to marryage, as testyfyethe Saynt Paul. 2. Cor. 11.2. Cor.…. And as apereth in Abraham and other iust fathers which had faythfull wyues. No people are lesse acquaynted with thys vprgyuyte than sectaryes, or they that vowe vprgynyte, for they thefelye depende vponupon mennys tradycyons and rules.
But yf a tre maye be knowne by hys frutes, and a man by hys dedes, as our sauer sayth they maye, Math. 7. ye shall easelye perceyue by their actes,Mat. 7. that these vyrgyuall votaryes hath bene the verye Angels of darkenesse. Marke their gostlye conueyauuces, and their other good workes (as they wyll hauehave them yet called) lyke as they are here regestred in course. And ye shall fynde them more fyt for hell than for heauen. Yet must they be canonysed sayntes, and do most wonderfull myracles.Myracles. But those myracles are the stronge delusyons (saynt Paule sayth) that the lorde wyll sende vntounto thē that shall perysh for their vnbeleues sake. 2. Thessalon 2. I doubt not but thys labour of myne, though yt be verye symple, wyll mynystre some lyght as wele to the lerned as vnlerned. At the least yt shall teche thē to iudge false myracles, that they be no more so deuylyshly deceyued. Lete not the oft cytynge of authors be greuouse to the readers, my occasyon iustlye cōsidered.Autours. For therby shall the papystes hauehave shame alwayes, yf they report them fables, or els me a lyar for the tellynge of them, beynge in their wrytynges so manyfest. And as conceruyuge those autours, they were their owne dere fryndes, and wrote the best they coude of them. If they had bene their enemyes, and so shewed the worst of them, or els but indyfferent wryters as they were most parcyall wytuesses, it had bene a farre other shewe of their mischefes than here will apere.
Men trusted they wolde hauehave seane themselues in this clere lyght of the Gospell, and so hauehave repented their former factes of falsehede.Byshoppes But trulye they are of a farre other kynde than so. Their nature is not to repent, do they neuer so manye myschefes. Rather stodye they out newe practyses of tyrannye and cautels of cruelte, to adde myschefe to myschefe, tyll the great vengeaunce promysed, lyght fullye vponupon them. Who so euer hath promoted forewarde Gods veryte (they thanke God of yt) they hauehave bene non of them as yet.Gospel If they shuld make their boastes with Paule. 1. Corin. 15. that they hauehave done therin more labours than the other discyples, men of knowlege wolde by and by saye, that they lyed most falselye. In dede they hauehave with Menelaus, Alchinius, Ananias, & wyth Capphas gone afore all worldlye tyrauntes in the murtheringe vp of them which hath done yt. And for errours,Errour they saye. But who euer erred as they hauehave done, sens the worldes begynnynge? Trulye non as yet. Neyther, Turke, Iewe, Saracene, Pagane, nor deuyll, as the examples herafter wyll shewe, they shall not be able to auoyde yt, vnlesse they dyspute with fyer ād faggottes as they hauehave done hytherto. For starke nought are they in dysputacyons, where as they are not at hāde. For this boke, I shall hauehave theyr cōmō lyuerye, and be called a thousande tymes heretyke. But neyther loke I for reasonable answere of them, nor yet for amendement of theyr knaueryes.
In this boke of myne,Face of Antichrist. is one face of Antichrist chefelye dysclosed (parauenture iij. vndre one) wherwith he hath of longe tyme paynted out his whore, the Rome churche, that she myght to the world apere a gloryouse madame. That face is her vowed chastyte, wherby she hath deceytfullye boasted herself spirituall, beynge but whore and thefe,Marryage maketh laye. and dysdayned marryage as a vyle draffe sacke and dyrtye dyshe cloute, callynge all them but lewde laye persones that were vndre yt, though they were kynges and quenes, lordes ād ladyes. Ye noble gouerners and lerned lawers, vntounto whom God hath in thys age delyuered the measurynge rodde of hys worde, as he ded to Iohan. Apocal. 11. that ye shuld measure all thynges ryghtlye. Be not now slacke in your offyces, as in the blynd tyme, but throwe fourth that wretched bonde woman with her doughter, that Rome churche with her whoryshnesse. No poynt of nobylyte were yt,Nobylyte. nor yet of lerned worthynesse, to be as ye hauehave bene of late yeares. styll seruaunt slaues to a most fylthye whore, and to her whoredome and whoremongers. Our most christen Emprour of Englande, kinge Hērye the.Kynge Henry. viî. of that name, as a most worthye mynystre of God, hath goue before yow in that behalfe. He hath made open vntounto ye the waye, and dryuē awaye from your gates the great aduersarye that shuld most hauehave noyed yow. Dysdayne not than yow to folowe, Take from your true subiectes, the popes false Christ with hys belles and bablynges,Christ. with hys myters and mastryes, wyth hys fannoms and fopperyes, and lete them hauehave frelye the true Christ agayne that their heauenlye father sent them from aboue fashyoned out vntounto thē in the Gospell. For moche more bewtifull is he in the syght of true beleuers, thā are all the corrupt chyldren of men, with all theyr gorgyouse aparelynges. Loke you thervnto with ernestnesse, for nothinge will be at the lattre daymore strayghtlye requyred of you thā that.
⸫