three remarkable documents,[1] which have been printed by Burnet, all bearing dates in March 1554—in the interval, that is to say, between the suppression of Wyatt's rebellion and the meeting of Parliament at the beginning of April. The first of these is a letter to Bishop Bonner, containing a number of injunctions (articles they are called) to be put in execution without delay throughout his diocese. They command, among other things, the use of all the ecclesiastical laws and canons which were in use in Henry VIII.'s time, not being directly contrary to the laws of the realm; the disuse by the bishop of the phrase 'regia auctoritate fulcitus,' and of the oath of supremacy; the deprivation or divorce of all married clergy; and rigid care on the part of the bishops for the exclusion of all Sacramentaries and other heretics from holy orders. This is in several respects a remarkable document; it describes itself as given under our signet at our palace, &c., and, although addressed to the Bishop) of London to be put in execution in the whole diocese, most of its items begin with the words 'That every bishop,' &c., as though intended, as it doubtless was, to be observed through the whole realm. The second and third are commissions given to the Bishops of Winchester, Durham, London, St. Asaph, Chichester, and Llandaff; the first, in Latin, to eject the Archbishop of York and the Bishops of St. Davids, Chester, and Bristol, from their sees on account of their having contracted marriage; and the second, in English, to eject those of Lincoln, Gloucester, and Hereford, on the ground that they held their sees by the late King's letters patent with the express clause 'quamdiu se bene gesserint,' and had since, both by teaching erroneous doctrine, and also by
- ↑ Burnet, vol. v. pp. 381-8, also Appendix, Note V.
