Acts and Monuments Volume 2 Part 2, Book 11 · Account 22 · Account 1
Doctor Thurlby and Doctor Boner comming with a new Commission to sit vponupon the archbishop the 14. day of February.
THis letter or sentence difinitiue of the Pope was dated about the first day of Ianuary,A new Cō mission sent downe … Rome agaynst the Archbish. and was deliuered here in Eng. about the middest of February. Upon the receit of which letters an other session was appoynted for ye Archbishop to appeare the 14. day of February, before certayne Commissions directed downe by the Queene, the chiefe wherof was the Bishop of Ely Doctour Thurlby.D. Thurlby, D. Boner, Commissioners. Concerning which Doctour Thurlby, by the way here is to be noted, that albeit he was not the sayde Archbishops housholde Chapleyne, yet he was so familiarly acquaynted with him, so dearely beloued, so inwardly accepted and aduaunced of hym (not like a Chapleyne, but rather lyke a naturall brother) that there was neuer anye thinge in the Archbishops house so deare, were it plate, Iewell, Horse,The olde benefites & familiaritye betweene the Archb. and Doct. Thurlby. Mappes, books, or any thing els, but if Thurlby dyd neuer so little commend it, (a subtle kinde of begging) the Archbishop by and by, either gaue it to him, or shortly sent it after him to hys house. So greatly was the Archbishop inamored with him, that whosoeuer would obtayne any thing of hym, most commonly would make theyr way before by D. Thurlby. Which by matter of the sayd Doctour Thurlby, I thought here to recite, not so much to rebrayd the man with the voyce of vnthankefulnes, as chiefly and onelyonly for this, to admonishe him of old benefites receiued whereby he may the better remember hys old benefactor, and so to fauour the cause and quarrell of hym whome he was so singularly bounden vntounto.
With the sayd Doctor Thurlby bishop of Ely, was also assigned in the same Commission Doctour Boner Byshop of London,A new sitting of the Popes delegates in Christes Church agaynst the Archb. of Cant. which two comming to Oxford vpō S. Ualentines daye, as the Popes delegates, with a newe commission from Rome, by the vertue thereof commaunded the Archb. aforesayd to come before them, in the quier of Christes Church before the high aultar, where they sitting (according to theyr manner) in their pontificalibus, first began as the fashion is, to reade theyr Commission: wherein was conteined, how that in the Court of Rome all thinges being indifferently examined, both the articles layd to hys charge, with the aunsweres made vntounto them and witnesses examined on both partes, and counsel heard as well on the king and Queenes behalfe his accusers, as on the behalfe of T. Cranmer, the party giltye, so that hee wāted nothing appertayning to his necessary defense. &c. Which foresayd Commission, as it was in reading, O lord sayd the Archbishop what lyes be these, that I being continually in prison,The Popes Commissiō groundeth vponupon ly…. and neuer could be suffered to hauehave coū sell or aduocate at home, should product witnesse and appoynt my councell at Rome? God muste needes punishe this open and shamelesse lying. They read on the Commission which came from the Pope, Plenitudine potestatis, supplying all manner of defectes in lawe or processe, committed in dealing with the Archbishop, and geuing them full authoritie to proceede to the depriuation and degradation of him, and so vponupon excommunication to deliuer him vp to the secular power, Omni appellatione remota.
When the commission was read thus,The order of Archbishops degradation. they proceeding thereupon, to his degradation, first clothed and disguised him: putting on hym a surplis, and then an Aulbe: after yt the vestiment of a Subdeacon, and eueryevery other furniture, as a Priest ready to Masse.
When they had apparelled him so farre: What, said he, I thinke I shall say Masse: Yea, sayd Cosins one of Boners Chapleynes, my Lord, I trust to see you say Masse, for all this. Do you so, quoth he? yt shall you neuer see, nor I will neuer do it.
Then they inuested him in all manner of Robes of a Bishop and Archbishop, as he is at his installing, sauyng that as eueryevery thing then is most riche and costly, so euerye thing in this was of Cāuas and olde cloutes, with a Miter and a Pall of the same sute downe vppon hym in mockery, and then the crosier staffe was put in hys hand.
This done after the Popes pontificall forme and maner, Boner, who by the space of many yeres had borne, as it seemed, no great good will towardes him, and nowe reioyced to see this day wherein he might triūph ouer him,… and take hys pleasure at full, began to stretch out hys eloquence, making hys Oration to the assemble, after thys maner of sort.
Thys is the man who hath euer despised the Popes holines, and nowe is to be iudged by him. Thys is ye man who hath pulled down so many churches, & now is come to be iudged in a church. This is the man that contemned the blessed sacrament of the altar, and nowe is come to be condemned afore that blessed sacrament hanging ouer the aultar. This is the man yt like Lucifer sate in the place of Christ vppon an aultar to iudge other, and nowe is come before an aultar to be iudged him selfe.
Whereunto the Archbishop interrupting hym, sayde: that in that he belied him,… as he did in many other things: For that which he would now seeme to charge him withal, was his owne fault, if it was any, and none of his. For the thing you meane off, was in Paules church (sayde he) where I came to sit in Commission: and there was a scaffold prepared for me and others, by you & your Officers, & whether there were any aultar vnderunder it, or not, I could not perceiue it, nor once suspected it: wherfore you do wittingly euill to charge me wyth it.
But Boner went on still in hys Rhetoricall repetition, lying and railing against the Archbyshop, beginning eueryevery sentence wyth, This is the man, this is the man, til at lengthe there was neuer a man but was wearye of the vnmannerly vsage of hym in that time and place:… In so much that the bishop of Ely aforesaide, diuers times pulled him by the sleeue to make an ende, and sayd to hym afterward when they went to dinner, that he hadde broken promise with him: for hee had entreated him earnestly to vse him wyth reuerence.
After all this done & finished, they began then to bustle toward his disgrading, and first to take from him hys Crosiar staffe out of his hands, which he held fast, and refused to deliuer, & withall imitating the example of Martin Luther, pulled an Appeale oute of his left sleeue vnderunder the wrest, which hee there and then deliuered vntounto them, saying:… I appeale to the next general Councel: and herein I hauehave comprehended my cause and forme of it, whych I desire may be admitted: and praied diuers of the standers by, by name to be witnesses, and especially M. Curtop, to whom he spake twise. &c.
The Copie of whych his Appellation, because it was not printed before, I thoughte heere to exhibite, ad rei memoriam, as in forme heere followeth.