The Acts of English Votaries, Religious tract · Part 85 – Part 90
¶Dunstane maketh an Idoll to speake.
THys caused Dunstane in the yeare of our lorde .DCCCC. and lxxv.975. to call an other solempne counsell.Synodus. But that was where they thought themselues most stronge, and myght best do their feates, at Wynchestre. Where after great wordes had betwen the duke of Marche and the earle of Eastsexe (which were than appoynted as arbyters) Dunstane perceyuynge all to go with the prestes, broughte fourthe hys former commyssyō,Cōmyssyon. thynkynge therby to stoppe their mouthes. And whan that wolde not serue, they sought out a practyse of the olde Idolatrouse prestes, which were wont to make their Idolles to speake, by the art of Necromancye, wherin the monkes were in those dayes expert. A roode there was vponupon the frayter wall in the monasterye where the counsel was holdē,Aroode & (as Ʋyncēt & Antoninus testyfyeth) Dunstane required thē all to praye therunto, which was not thā ignoraunte of that spirytuall prouysyon.Knauerye. In the myddes of their prayer, the roode spake these wordes, or els a knaue mōke behynde hym in a truncke through the wall, as Bonyface ded after for the papacye of Celestyne. God forbyd (sayth he) ye shulde chāge thys ordre takē.The roode speaketh. Ye shuld not do wele, now to alter yt. Take Dunstanes wayes vntounto ye, for they are the best. At thys worke of the deuyll all they were astoyned, that knewe not therof the craftye cōueyaunce. If thys were not cleane legerdemayne, tell me. Oh, that there was not a Iohā Boanerges at that tyme, to proue the spretes of that workemā shyp. 1. Ioan. 4.1. Ioā. 4 If there had bene but one Thomas Cromwell,Thomas crō well. they had not so clerelye escaped with that knauerye. Polydorus Vergilius, which alloweth thē in manye other lewde poyntes, smelled out their bouerye in thys, and reporteth dyuerse other to do the same at the daye.
¶That Idoll ys crowned Kynge of Englande.
IN remēbraunce of thys knauerye (myracle, they saye) were afterwarde writtē vpō the wall vndre that roodes fete,Ʋerses these verses folowynge.
Humano more, crux presens edidit ore,
Coelitus affata, que perspicis hic subarata,
Absit ut hoc fiat, et cetera tunc memorata.
Wyth lye and all.Capgraue. Whom Iohan Capgraue reporteth that he se there more thā CCCC. years after, the roode translated from thens into the churche for hys myracles sake. Aboute the yeare of our lorde a. M. and .xxxvi.1036. as kynge Canutus beynge at Southampton was boasted of one of hys knyghtes to be the great lorde of the see,Canutꝰ he thought to proue yt by a commaundemēt of obedyence. And as he wele perceyued that yt wolde obeye hym in no poynt,The crowne. he toke the crowne from hys owne head, acknowlegynge that there was a lord moche hygher & of more power thā hymself was. And therfor he promysed neuer more to weare yt, but to rendre yt vp vntounto hym for euer. With that,Egelnothus. Egelnothus than archebyshopp of Caunterburye, infourmed hym of thys roode whiche had dysolued prestes matrymonye ād done manye other great myracles. Whiche prouoked hym anon after to go to Wynchestre, and to resigne vntounto hym hys regall crowne, cō stytutynge hym than kynge of thys real me.An Idol made kynge. Was not thys (thynke yow) good wholsom counsell of thys Idolouse byshopp. Zacha. 11. yf a man had nede of yt? A playne token ys yt that they were thā the Images of the Beast.Image of the Beast. Apoca. 13. & no godlye gouernours, yea, verye Idolles … no kynges, that were vndre soche ghostly fathers. Henricus Huntyngtonensis Archidia conus. li. 6. Ranulphus li. 6. Ca. 20. Fabianus. li. 1. Ca. 206. et Polydorus li. 7. with other autours more.
¶An example of Claustrall virgynyte.
MArianus Scotus & serten other writers besydes, do testyfye in their Chronycles, that whan thys Canutus coude hauehave no frute by hys wyfe Elgyne of hampton,Canutꝰ Elgius. and was not througlye contented therwith. She fearynge that he shuld eyther caste her vp, or els resort to some other, gote her amonge relygyouse chast women, to knowe what good chere was amonge them. And anon she founde one to her mynde,Clanstrall chastyte whiche was bygge with chylde by a mō ke, not withstandynge the great chastyte that was boasted afort. But Marianus sayth, she was a presbyteresse or a prestes …e…an, to saue the honoure of that ordre, bycause he was a monke hys selfe. Algyne bad thys nonne be of good chere, and yf she wolde agre vntounto her, yt shuld be to her great honoure.A monkes bastarde. But yt must (she sayd) be kept wonderfully close. Immedyatlye after the quene fayned herselfe to be great with chylde, and by the conueyaunce of a mother. B. goynge betwixt them both, as the tyme appoynted of labourynge, she was delyuered of the nonnes chylde, makynge the kynge to be leue yt was hys, to no small reioyce of them both.Sweno This chylde was called Sweno, and the yeare afore Canutus dyed, was constytute kynge of Norweye. Some writers hauehave thought that Heraldus the first (whiche after succeded kynge of Englande) to come fourth also the same waye,Heraldus. ād hys owne brother harde Canutus reporte yt not farre otherwyse. Ranulphus li 6. Ca. 20. cum ceteris autoribus.
¶Dunstane dysputeth with sorcerye and murther.
NOw let vsus returne vntounto Dūstane agayne.Dunstanus. Though the aforesayd controuersye betwen the prestes & the mōnkes ceased for a tyme, by reason of their legerdemayne in the roode,Knauerye. yet was yt not all fynyshed. For some men of wysdome there were in those dayes, which smelled somwhat (as Polydorus reporteth) iudgynge yt to be as yt was in dede, verye subtyle knauerye. And playnelye Ranulphus sayth, that the spech came frō the wall. Marke yt bardelye. Wherupon Alpherus the duke of Marche with hys companye,Alpherus. in the yeare folowynge (whiche was from Christes incarnacyon .DCCCC. and .lxxvi.)976. sent into Scotlande for a certen lerned Byshop,a lerned byshop. which was knowne both eloquent & wytty, to dys…te the matter with thē. Than was the place appoynted in a ſtrete or vyllage of the Kynges, called Calua, for they trusted no more close howses in the monasteryes. And whan the Byshopp had layed for the marryed prestes soche invyncyble scripturs,Dunstane an asse. reasone, and argumentes as Dunstane and hys dodypoll monkes were not albe to auoyde, the blynde asse had non other shyft but to laye these faynte excuses for hymself. As that he was an aged man, sore brokē in the labours of holye churche, and that he had at that tyme geuen ouer all stodye,A blynde beast and onelye addycted hymself vntounto prayer. But for as moche (he sayd) as they wolde not leaue the dysquyetynge of hym, but styll vexe hym with olde quarellynges, they myght wele seme to hauehave the vyctorye, yet shuld they not hauehave their myndes. And with that he arose in a great furye, for a coloure commyttynge hys cause vntounto Christ,A lymme of the deuyll. but he sett the Deuyll by hys necromancye to worke. For so sone as he was gone, with soche as yt pleased hys pontyfycall pleasure to call with hym, sodenly (sayth Fabyane, Antonyne, Vyncent, and Iohan Capgraue) the ioystes of the loft fayled, and they that were vndre yt, peryshed there.
¶Dunstanes prouysyon in Englande for Sathan.
THus hauehave thys most cruell and wycked generacyon contynuallye buylded their synnefull Syon in blood. Michee. 3.Mich. 3 and are not yet ashamed of these their manyfest knaueryes. For these belly founders, theues, and mourtherers of theirs yet aduaunce they for their princypall Sayntes.sayntes And whā their feastfull dayes come, they are yet in the papystych churches of Englande with no small solēpnyte, mattensed, …assed, candeled, lyghted, processyoned, sense…, smoked, perfumed, and worshypped, the people brought in beleue, that the latyne readynge of their wretched actes there in their legendes, ys Gods dyuyne seruyce,Gods seruyce. beyng without fayle the most dampnable seruyce of the deuyll. Lyke as holye Iohan Baptyst by preachynge repentaunce, prepared a playne pathwaye, to Christ and hys kyngedome, Luce. 3. So ded thys vnholye Dunstane by sowynge of all superstycyons,Precursor Antichristi. make redye the waye to Sathā and hys fylthye kyngedome agaynst hys commynge fourth from the bottomlesse pytt, after the full thousande of years from Christes incarnacyon. Apoca. 20.Apo. 20 Myracles. which ys the sprete of Antichrist, He raysed vp in Englāde the pestylent ordre of monkes, he buylded them monasteryes, he procured them substaunce innumerable, fynally he brought into their handes the cathedrall churches with the free eleccyon of byshoppes, that nothyng shuld there be done within that realme, but after their lust and pleasure. Thā was Chrystes kyngedome clerelye put a syde, and hys immaculate spouse, or churche vponupon hys worde onlye dependynge,The churche Apo. 12. compelled to flee into the desart. Apoca. 12. Men and womē that ryghtlye beleued, durst not than confesse their faythe, but kept all close within them. For than was Sathan abrode,Sathan these monkes euerye where assystynge hym in the fournyshynge out of that proude paynted churche of Antichrist. Superstycyon, hypocresye, and vayne glorye, were afore that tyme soche vyces as men were glad to hyde,Vyces. but now in their gaudyshe ceremonyes, they were taken for Gods dyuyne seruyce.
¶Sygnes and plages folowynge these myschefes.
BƲt now se what folowed of these afore rehersed myscheues. In the yeare of our lorde .DCCCC. & lxxxviij.988 (which was the .xij. yeare before that full thousande) departed thys Dunstane, a swarme of deuyls frequētynge hys tumbe,Deuyls. as I shall in the next boke she we more playnelye. Within the same yeare appered a bloodye cloude in the skye,A bloodye cloude. which couered all Englāde, as witnesseth Iohā Hardinge with dyuerse other Chronyclers, and yt rayned blood ouer all the lande.Danes. After that entered the Danes so fast (sayth Ranulphe) at euerye porte, that no where was the Englyshe nacyon able to withstande them. And the monkes to helpe the matter wele forewarde, by counsell of their Archebyshop Siricius,Siricius. gaue them .x. thousand pounde to begynne with, that they myght lyue in rest and not be hyndered. For lytle cared they what became of the reest, so their precyouse bodyes were safe. After thys by dyuerse compulsyons they augmented that summe, from .x. to .xvi. to .xx. to .xxiiij. to .xxx. and so fourth tyll they came to the sharpe payment of .xl. thousande pounde,Mōkes were Englandes destruccyon. and tyll they had nomore moneye to geue.The Danes stregthned. For the more the Danes had, the more couetouse and cruell they were euermore. Thus ded they to the lande innumerable harme, in sekynge their owne pryuate commodyte, and so brought their owne natyue people in most myserable thraldome. For by that meanes were the Danes made stronge, and the Englyshe nacyon bycame feble and weake, yea, so wretched at the last, that they were fayne to call euerye vyle slaue amonge the seyde Danes,Lorde Dane. their good lorde. But now marke the ende cō cernynge these monkes. In the yeare of our lorde a thousande & .xij whiche was the .xxiiij.1012. yeare from Dunstanes departynge. and the .xij. from the deuyls goynge fourth, the Danes after manye great vyctoryes within the realme,Caōterburye. fyered the cytie of Caunterburye and enprisoned the Archebyshopp than Elphegus.Elphegus. And as he and hys monkes were able to geue no more moneye, they tythed thē after thys sort. They slewe alwayes .ix. and reserued the tenth to perpetuall sorowe and seruytude, tyll they had mourthered of them to the nōbre of more thā ix.Tythynges. hondred, there and in other quarters abrode. And the moste part of them they hynge vp by the members,A iust Plage. which was a playne sygnyfycacyon, that plage to come than vponupon them for their Sodometrye and most vyolent contempt of christen marryage. Ranulphus Cestrensis li. 6. Ca. 13. et. 15. Fabianus Par. 1. Cap. 199.