ENGLAND, IRELAND, SCOTLAND, THE NETHERLANDS, IN A SERIES OF ESSAYS, REVIEWING D'AUBIGNÉ, MENZEL, HALLAM, BISHOP SHORT, PRESCOTT, RANKÉ, IN TWO VOLUMES. BY M. J. SPALDING, D. D., BISHOP OF LOUISVILLE. VOL. II.-REFORMATION IN ENGLAND, IRELAND, SCOTLAND, THE NETHERLANDS, LOUISVILLE: WEBB & LEVERING. 1860. PENN STATE CATHOLIC CENTER UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by RT. REV. M. J. SPALDING, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the District of Kentucky. Stereotyped by Hills, O'Driscoll & Co., 141 Main St., Cincinnati. -74 12-10-7/ .57 PREFACE TO VOLUME II. In this volume I have endeavored to trace the history of the Protestant Reformation in the principal European countries outside of Germany and Switzerland. As, among these, England and its dependencies possess most interest for the American or English reader, more space in proportion has been devoted to the history of the Anglican Schism than to that of any other European country. Besides an Introduction, in which the religious history of England preliminary to the Reformation is discussed, four chapters are devoted to the English Refor mation, besides separate chapters on the Reformation in Scotland and Ireland. The statements of the great English historian, Lingard, are shown to be substantially confirmed by Hallam, Macaulay, Bishop Short, Sir James Mackintosh, Agnes Strickland, and other accredited Protestant historians; and, unless I am greatly mistaken, it will be seen from the comparison of authorities, that not one important fact alleged by Lingard has ever been successfully controverted, even by the most determined opponents of the Catholic Church. The excellent Miss Strickland, in her Lives of the English and Scottish Queens, has incidentally thrown much additional light on what may be called the internal history of the Anglican and Scottish Reformation. Though a decided Protestant, she has done justice to the memory of Mary of England and of Mary of Scotland; and also, in another sense, to Queen Elizabeth and John Knox. Availing herself with much industry and fidelity of her ample opportunities for investigation, she has published several new documents from the English State Paper Office; and, what is still better and more commendable, she has dared tell a considerable portion of the truth, in spite of fashionable obloquy and stereotype misrepresentation. She has drawn, what might be called a Daguerreotype likeness of John Knox in his relations with Mary Stuart, whom the Scottish reformer fiercely hunted to death in the name of the religion of love! (iii) ' In the chapter on the fruitless attempts to thrust the Reformation on Ireland, I have endeavored to present, on the most unexceptionable Protestant authority, together with a summary of the principal facts, a condensed but somewhat detailed account of the truly infamous Penal Code enacted by the British parliament against the members of the ancient Church in that faithful Island, which, in spite of almost incredible hardships and the most atrocious persecutions, have preserved untarnished the precious jewel of faith bequeathed to her by St. Patrick. The chapter on the Reformation in the Netherlands is a review of Prescott's Philip II.; and it presents an appreciation of the stern Spanish monarch and of his cruel lieutenant Alva, together with a portraiture of the atrocities committed against the Catholics by the Dutch Calvinists, who are shown to have raged more fiercely than Alva himself. The history of the French Huguenots, together with that of the great central tragedy in this history-the massacre of St. Bartholomew—is sketched in the chapter on the French Reformation, which is a review of Ranké's History of the Civil Wars in France. It will be seen, that Catholics have nothing whatsoever to fear from the verdict of history, even as the facts are furnished by Protestant historians, in the comparison between the cruelties committed by the French Huguenots and those charged on their opponents. Two chapters are devoted to the Reformation in Northern Europe. These review the statements of the Protestant historians of Sweden, Fryxell and Geijer, and present a summary account of the manner in which the Reformation was introduced into Denmark, Norway, and Iceland. Here, as elsewhere, I have relied chiefly on Protestant authority, copious extracts from which I have sought to interweave with the narrative. In the eight notes appended to this volume, the reader will find several useful and interesting documents confirmatory of the statements made in the text; besides some brief essays on important matters connected with the history of the Reformation in England and Scotland. To the lovers of historic truth I confidently present these Essays, composed with the sincere desire of exhibiting the Protestant Reformation in its true light. Those who have derived their information on this important subject from prejudiced or partisan writers owe it to themselves, and to the cause of justice and truth, to examine the other side. Though I have written plainly, I trust that I have employed no language which may be justly construed as harsh or offensive, and that I have sought to meet fairly and roundly, if summarily, the various issues of fact and argument presented by the great religious revolution of the sixteenth century. LOUISVILLE, KY., Easter Monday, 1860. CONTENTS TO VOLUME II. PRELIMINARY View useful, p. 17-Early religious history of England- England indebted for every thing to Rome, 18-Testimony of Bishop Short, 21-Her conversion through St. Gregory the Great-The early British Churches-Their controversy with St. Augustine, first Archbishop of Can- terbury, 23-Morality of their Clergy-Gildas-Massacre of British Monks, 24--The Anglo-Saxon Church, 25-St. Wilfrid-Testimony of Bishop Short, 26-St. Dunstan-The Primacy recognized, 28-Nomination of Bishops, 29-Growing encroachments of the Civil power-Under the Anglo-Saxon Princes-And under the Norman Kings-Archbishops of Canterbury, 30-Lanfranc and William the Conqueror, 31—William Rufus and St. Anselm, 33—Varied fortunes and persecution of St. Anselm- Two English Prime Ministers, Flambard and Cromwell, compared, 34– General remarks and inferences, 37-St. Thomas A Becket, 38-And St. Edmund Rich, 40-Increasing assumptions of English Kings-Statute of Provisors-And of Præmunire, 41-Dr. Lingard reviewed, 45—And Bishop Short quoted on Investitures, 46-The Primacy always recognized, -Superiority of the Bishops named by Rome, 47-Protestant authority -Cardinal Langton-And Lanfranc, 48-Simon of Sudbury-And William of Wykeham, 49-Monastic Chronicles-Curious developments-And tragi- cal incidents, 50-Modern historic justice, 53-The true key to the contests between English Kings and Roman Pontiffs in middle ages-Eve of the Reformation-Spirit of servility and slavery increasing, 54-Recapitula- (y) |