Transcriber’s Note: Biblical references in the sidenotes are not always possible to make out, due to the quality of the print. Where this is the case it has been noted with [unclear] or [unreadable], as appropriate.
A Godly Medytacyon
of the christen sowle, concerninge
a loue towardes God and hys
Christe, compyled in frenche by lady
Margarete quene of Nauerre, and aptely
translated into Englysh by the
ryght vertuouse lady Elyzabeth
doughter to our late souerayne
Kynge Henri the .viij.
Inclita filia, serenissimi olim Anglorum
Regis Henrici octaui Elizabeta, tam Græcæ
quam latine fœliciter in Christo
erudita.
To the ryght vertuouse
and christenly lerned yonge
lady Elizabeth, the noble doughter of
our late souerayne Kynge Henry the
.viij. Iohan Bale wysheth helth
with dayly increace of Godly
knowledge.
Nobylyse.
Albion.
Diuerse and many (most gracyouse lady) haue the opynyons bene amonge the prophane philosophers and christen dyuynes, concernynge ryght Nobylyte, and no fewar stryues and contencyons for the same. Some autours haue vaynely boasted it to take orygynall of the olde Goddes of the Gentyles, as euery lāde hath had hys peculyar Saturne, Iupiter, & Hercules, yea our Englāde here and all. Some hath fatt it from the foure generall monarchyes of the Assyrianes, Perseanes, Grekes, and Romanes. Some haue attrybuted it, to the bolde battayles and bloudshedynges, in Ninus of Babylon the first inuētour of polycyes in warre, in our great Albion the Chamesene, whych first in thys regyon suppressed the posterite of Iaphet, vsurpynge therin the first monarchy, in Brute that more than six hondred yeares after defaced of hym the tyrannouse yssue, in Ebrāck and Dunwallo, in Brenne and Belyne, in great Constantyne, Artoure, Cadwalader, Engist, Egbert, Alphrede wyllyam cōquerour & soch other, for lyke cōquestes of the Romanes, Grekes, Galles, pyctes, Brytaynes, Saxons, Danes, Iryshens and Englyshens.
Brute.
Romani.
Gwalli.
Iaphet.
Kyndes of Nobylyte.
The hawty Romanes set not yet a lyttle by themselues, that they haue rysē of Aeneas & Romulus, of whom the one most shamefully betrayed hys owne natyue kyndred and contraye, and the other most vnnaturally slewe hys owne brother for worldly domynyō. Lyke as our walshemen here in Englande, aduaūcynge their successyon or progeny aboue the Englysh wyll nedes come of Sardanus & Bute, a foūdacyō not all vnlyke to the other. These gloryouse champyons for thys farre fatched groūde of their Nobylyte, accoūte all other nacyons and peoples, ignoble, profane, and barbarouse, as is to be seane in the monumētes of their writers. But in the meaneseason, they are not aware that they wndyscretely prefarre cursed Cham to blessed Iaphet, by whose posteryte the Iles of the Gentyles were first sorted out in to speches, kyndredes, and nacyons, Gene. 10. and not by Chams ofsprynge, of whome the Troianes and Romanes had their noble begynnynge. That the Chamesenes had in those Iles, was by cruell vsurpacyon & tyrāny, as testyfyeth Berosus the Caldeane and therfor that groūde of Nobylyte is not all the best. Ouer and besydes all thys, some haue applyed it to renomed byrth or successyon of bloude, some to the habūdaūce of pleasures worldly some to the mayntenaūce of great famylyes, some to the sūptuousnesse of notable buyldynges, some to the hygh stomake & stature of persone, some to valeaūtnesse in marcyall feates, some to semely maners of courtesye, some to lyberalyte of rewardes and gyftes, some to the auncyentnesse of longe coūtynuaunce, some to wysdome lernynge & stody for a cōmēwelth with soch lyke. And these are not all to be dysalowed, for we fynde them in Abraham, & Dauid with other iust fathers.
Clergy.
Stābery.
Hunte.
Fryres.
But now foloweth, a monstruouse, or whether ye wyll, a prestygyouse nobylyte. The Romysh clergye ymagenynge to exalte themselues aboue the lewde layte (as they shame not yet to call the worldly powers) haue geuen it in a farre other kynde, to mytars, masses, Cardynall hattes, crosers, cappes, shauen crownes, oyled thombes, syde gownes, furred amyses, mōkes cowles, and fryres lowsy coates, becōmynge therby pōtyfycall lordes, spirytuall sirs, and ghostly fathers. Thys kynde of Nobylyte dygged out of the dongehyll, haue I seane gorgyously garnyshed with the retoryckes of Porphyry, Aristotle, Duns, and Raymundus decretals, in the bokes of Iohan Stanbery byshopp of herforde, De superioritate ecclesiastica, De discrimine iurisdictionum, and De potestate pōtificia. In the bokes also of Walter hūte an ordynary reader sūtyme in Oxforde, De precellētia Petri, & De autoritate ecclesie. Yea, and amōge thēselues they haue moch contended both by disputacyon & writynges, whych of their seeres myght other excell in the nobylnesse of christen perfection. The monkes in publyque scoles, by a dystynccyon of the actyue and contemplatyue lyfe, haue aduaunced their ydell mōkery aboue the offyce of a byshopp, and the fryres their scalde crauynge beggery, aboue the degrees of thē Both. As is largely seane in the brawlynge workes of Rycharde Maydeston, Thomas walden, Wyllyam Byntre & other whych haue written Contra wicleuistas, & Pro mēdicatione fratrū.
Myluerton.
4. orders.
Prestes.
O Deuils īcarnate.
In the dayes of kynge Edwarde the fourt, Iohan Myluerton prouyncyall of the Carmelytes, was full thre yeares, a prysoner in the castell of Angell at Rome at the sute of the byshoppes of Englande for the same, and lost so the byshopryck of saynt Dauids, wherunto he was a lyttle afore elected. Thys matter haue I hearde, vndre the tyttle of Euangelyck perfeccyon, most depely reasoned in their ordynary dysputacions at their concourses cōuocacyons, and chapters (as they than called them) yea by those whome I knewe most corrupt lyuers, Berūto for fournyshynge out the same, the graye fryres added. S. frances paynted woūdes, the blacke fryres. S. Domynyckes bolde dysputynge with heretykes, the whyte fryres our ladyes fraternyte, and the Augustyne fryres the great doctryne of their patrone. In the vnyuersytees afte moch to and fro, hath it bene concluded, that the order of a prest haue farre excelled in dygnyte the order of a byshopp. And thys haue they left behynde them for a most graue and depe reason therupon. Marke their more than lucyferyne presumpcyon therin. Soch power hath a prest (saye they) as hath neyther Angell nor yet Man, be he of neuer so great autoryte, scyēce, or vertu. For a prest by worde maye make hym agayne, that by worde made heauen & earth. A prest maye euery daye both byget hym and beare hym, where as hys mother Marye bygate hym (beare hym they wolde saye) but ones. These are their very wordes in a boke entytled, De origine Nobilitatis. ca. 5. with moch more cyrcumstaunce of matter. O blasphemouse bellybeastes, & most ydell wytted sorcerers. How ydolatrously exalte they themselues aboue the eternall lyuynge God & hys Christ?
Nobylyte.
Apostles.
Faythe.
Iohan Chrisostome a man taught and brought up in the christen philosophy, defyneth the true Nobylyte after a farre other sort, than ded the prophane writers. He calleth it not with Aristotle, a worthynesse of progeny, neyther yet with Varro ā opulēcy of ryches, but a fameuse renome obtayned by lōge exercysed vertu. He is pusaunt, hygh, ād valeaunt (sayth he) and hath Nobylyte in right course, that dysdayneth to geue place to vyces and abhorreth to be ouercomen of them. Doctryne greatly adourneth a mā hyghly borne, but a godly endeuoure of christyanyte bewtyfyeth hym most of all. By nō other wayes haue the Apostles and Martyrs obtayned a noble report, than by the valeaunt force of pure doctryne and fayth. A gētyll hart (sayth Seneca) or a stomake that ys noble, moueth, prouoketh, and sturreth, only to thynges honest. No man whych hath a noble wytte, delyteth in thynges of small value, moch lesse in matters of fylthynesse or supperstycyon. Chefely apperteyneth it to men and women of syncere Nobylyte, to regarde the pure doctryne and faythe, vnto soch hath God promysed in the scriptures, habundaunce of tēporall thynges, longe lyfe, fortunate chyldren, a kyngedome durable, with soch other, Deut. 28.
Gedeon.
Asa rex.
Iosaphat.
Iehu.
Ezechias.
Iosias.
Prestes.
Ecclesia. 49.
A most worthy conquerour is Gedeon noted in the scriptures, for destroyenge false relygyō & renuynge the kyngedome of faythe. Iudi. vj. So is kynge Asa, for remouynge the male stues from the prelates abhorrynge marryage, & for puttynge downe ydolles whych hys forefathers maynteyned. 3. Reg. 15. So is kynge Iosaphat, for beynge couragyouse in the wayes of God, and for puttynge downe the hyll aulters & their sacrifices. 2. parali 17. So is kynge Iehu, for sleynge the ydolatrouse Prestes, and for breakynge and burnynge their great God Baal, and for makynge, a Iakes of their holy churche 4. Reg. 10. So is kynge Ezechias for clēsynge the house of the lorde from all fylthynesse, afore hys tyme therin occupyed. 2. Parali. 29. and for breakynge downe the brasen serpent and ydolatrouse ymages with their aulters and sanctuaryes. 4. Reg. 18. So is kynge Iosias, for suppressynge relygyouse persones and aulter prestes, for cōsumynge their iewels & ornamētes, & for ouerthrowynge their buggery chambers in the howse of the lorde 4. Reg. 23. Thys noble kīge also destroyed all theyr carued ymages, he strewed the dust of thē vpon their graues that had offered to them, and brent the prestes bones vpō their aulters, restorynge agayne the lawes of the lorde. 2. parali. 34. Iesus Syrach reporteth of hym fynally, that he whollye dyrected hys hart to the lorde, & toke awaye all abhomynacyons of the vngodly. Eccle. 49. Besydes that is spoken of kynge Dauid and kynge Salomon.
Edwarde vj. rex.
Ignoble.
Not I only, but many thousandes more whych wyll not from hens fourth bowe any more to Baal, are in full & perfyght hope, that all these most hyghly notable and pryncely actes, wyll reuyue & lyuely florysh in your most noble and worthy brother kynge Edwarde the sixt. Most excellent & godly are hys begynnynges reported of the very foren nacyōs callynge hym for hys vertuouse, lerned, and godly prudent youthes sake, the seconde Iosias. Those hys wonderfull pryncyples in the eyes of the worlde, and no lesse gloryouse afore God thus beynge to hys honoure, that eternall lyuynge God contynue and prospere to the ende, that he maye haue of them as had these vorthy kinges afore rehearced, a ryght noble and famouse report. Nobylyte sought by wycked enterpryses and obtayned by the same (as in many afore our dayes, and in some now of late) is not els but a publyque and notable infamye, and in the ende eternall dāpnacyon. Nobylyte wonne by the ernest sekynge of Gods hygh honour, is soch a precyouse crowne of glory as wyll neuer perysh here nor yet in the worlde to come.
Tyraūtes.
Nobylyte.
O Noble Kyndred.
Alexāder.
Cain after a worldly maner, or amōge the vngracyouse sort, is holden noble for slaynge hys brother Iudas of the prelates (for he receyued of thē, a noble rewarde) for betrayenge Christ, Herode of the Iewes for murtherynge the innocētes. And what is there more worthy reproche, dyshonour, and shame, than are these execrable factes? The nature of true Nobylyte (as I haue sayd afore) is not to ryse of vyce but of vertu, though many men there seke it. Of the most excellēt kinde of Nobylyte is he sure (most vertuouse and lerned lady) whych truly beleueth and seketh to do the wyll of the eternall father, for therby is he brought forewarde, and promoted into that heauenly kyndred Ioā. 1. By that meanes becometh he the deare brother, syster, & mother of Christ Math. 12. a cytizen of heauen with the Apostles and Prophetes, Ephe. 2. yea the chylde of adopcyon and heyre togyther with Christ in the heauēly inherytaunce Roma. 8. No soch chyldren left Socrates behynde hym, neyther yet Demosthenes, Plato, nor Cicero, with all their plesaūt wysdome and eloquēce. No soch heretage coulde great Alexander the Macedoneane, byqueth to hys posteryte neyther yet noble Charles, Artoure, nor Dauid.
Frutes.
.4. tūges.
Men lerned.
Sētēces.
Of thys Nobylyte, haue I no doubt (lady most faythfully studyouse) but that yow are, with many other noble women & maydēs more in thys blessed age. If questyon were axt me, how I knowe it? my answere wolde be thys. By your godly frute, as the fertyle tre is non other wyse than therby knowne, Luce. vj. I receyued your noble boke, ryght frutefully of yow translated out of the frenche tunge into Englysh. I receyued also your golden sentences out of the sacred scriptures, with no lesse grace than lernynge in foure noble lāguages, Latyne, Greke, Frenche, & Italyane, most ornately, fynely, & purely writtē with your owne hande. Wonderfully ioyouse were the lerned men of our cytie, Murseus, Buscoducius, Bomelius, Lithodius & Imānus, as I shewed vnto them the seyd sentences, in beholdynge (as they than reported) so moch vertu, faythe, scyence, & experyēce of lāguages & letters, specyally in noble youth & femynyte. Through whych occasyon there be of thē (I knowe) that can not witholde their lerned handes frō the publyshynge therof, to the hygh prayse of God the geuer, neyther yet from wrytynge to your worthy grace for studyouse contynuaunce in the same. Your seyd sētēces, they saye farre passeth the Apohthegmes of Plutarchus, the Aphorismes of Theognis, the Stratagemes of Isocrates, the graue golden coūsels of Cato & the manyfolde morals of Iohan Goldeston the great allegoryser, with soche other lyke.
The first clause.
Hypocrytes.
Hate.
Happye.
Tuters.
Rulers.
Your first written clauses in .iiij. speches latyne, frenche & Italyane, out of the xiij. Psalme of noble Dauid, mēcyoneth that the vnfaythfull reckeneth folyshly in their hartes, there is no God. Wherupō so corrupt they are in their vayne coniectures, and so abhomynable in their dayly doynges, that not one of their generacyō is godly. By thys do your grace vnto vs sygnyfye, that the baren doctryne & good workes without fayth of the hypocrytes, whych in their vncōmaunded latyne ceremonyes serue their bellyes & not Christ, in gredyly deuourynge the patrymony of poor wydowes & orphanes, are both execrable in themselues, and abhomynable afore God for though those paynted sepulchres haue the name of the lorde in their mouthes, & greatly boast the good workes of the lawe, yet knowe they not what belongeth to hys true honoure, but hate in their wycked hartes both hys gloryouse name and worde. The true doctryne of faythe, and the feare of God, wyll that wycked sort (whome thys psalme wryngeth) not heare, but styll tormēt the conscyences of myserable wretched ydyotes for aduauntage of Masses and momblynges. Happy are they of thys latter age, that in the Gospell haue receyued the sauynge helth out of Syon (as your grace hath done) beynge clere from the stynge of those vyperouse wormes. Blessed be those faythfull tuters & teachers whych by their most godly instruccyons haue thus fashyoned your tender youth into the ryght ymage of Christ and not Antichrist. Yea most blessed be those godly gouernours and magistrates, whych haue traueled and yet laboryously trauayle with worthy Moses, to brynge Gods people clerely out of their most wretched captyuyte.
The latter clause.
Your latter clause in the Greke, incyteth vs to the ryght worshyppynges of God in sprete and veryte Ioā. 4. to honouringe of our parētes in the semely offyces of naturall chyldren. Ephe. vj. and to the reuerent vsynge of our christen equalles in the due mynystracyons of loue. 1. Pet.
Monachi.
Lōbardus.
Robert Kylwarby.
A change.
The boke.
2. Neyther Benedyct nor Bruno, Domynyck nor Frances (whych haue of longe yeares bene boasted for the pryncypall patrones of relygyon) euer gaue to their superstycyouse bretherne, so pure preceptes of syncere christyanyte. Neyther yet Peter lombarde in hys .iiij. bokes of sentēces, with whose smokye dyuynyte, the lowsy locustes monkes, chanons, prestes, and fryres haue these .iiij. hondred yeares darkened the clere sunne, whych is the veryte of God, Apoca. 9. If godly wyse men wolde do nomore but conferre thys lernynge of yours and of other noble women ī these dayes, with the doctryne of Robert Kylwarby archebyshopp of Canterbury and Cardynall, whych the vnyuersytees of Oxforde & Parys were sworne to, for mayntenaunce of that christyanyte in the yeare of our lorde. 1276, by the consent of all masters regentes & non regentes, I doubt it not but they shulde fynde iust cause to holde vp both their handes and prayse their lorde God for changynge that helle into thys heauen. An vnsauery gust therof shall they fynde, adioyned of the Paryseanes as necessary dyuynyte, to the foreseyd sentēces of Peter lombarde.
Elizabeth.
An hart.
Noble womē lerned.
Cōclusio.
In your forenamed boke, cōposed first of all by the ryght vertuouse lady Margarete, syster sūtyme to the frenche kynge Frances, and quene of Nauerre, And by your noble grace most dylygently and exactly translated into Englysh, fynde I most precyouse treasure concernynge the sowle, Wherfor I haue added therunto the tytle of a Godly medytacyon of the sowle, concernynge a loue towardes God and hys Christ. Most lyuely in these and soch other excellent factes, expresse ye the naturall emphasy of your noble name Elischabeth in the hebrue, is as moch to saye in the latyne, as Dei mei requies, in Englysh, the rest of my God. Who can thynke God not to rest in that harte whych sendeth fourth soch godly frutes? I thynke nō that hath ryght dyscressyon. Your pēne hath here plenteouslye vttered the habundaūce of a Godly occupyed harte, lyke as ded the vyrgynall lyppes of Christes most blessed mother, whan she sayd with heauenly reioyce, My sowle magnyfyeth the lorde and my sprete reioyceth in God my sauer, Luce. 1. Many noble women of fresh literature haue bene afore tyme in thys regyon, whose nomēclature or rehearsall of names I intende to shewe in the ende of thys boke, but non of thē were euer yet lyke to those whych are in our age. No, neyther Cambra, Martia, Constantia, Agasia, Vodicia, Bunduica, Claudia, Helena, vrsula, hilda, nor soch other lyke. Thys one coppye of yours haue I brought into a nombre, to thintēt that many hungry sowles by the inestymable treasure contayned therin, maye be swetely refreshed. The sprete of the eternall sonne of God Iesus Christ, be alwayes to your excellent grace assystent that ye maye sende fourth more soch wholsome frutes of sowle, and become a noryshynge mother to hys dere congregacyon to their confort and hys hygh glorye Amen.
Your bounde oratour
Iohan Bale