[APPENDIX G (p. [269]).
THE DEPARTURE OF ALESIUS FROM ENGLAND.
As soon as the king [i.e., Henry VIII.] began to hate her [i.e., Anne Boleyn], laws hostile to the purer doctrine of the Gospel appeared. When I could not bear these with a good conscience, nor could my profession allow me to dissemble them (for I was filling the office of the ordinary reader in the celebrated University of Cambridge by the king's orders), I came to the Court, and asked for my dismissal by means of Crumwell. But he retained me for about three years with empty hopes, until it was decreed and confirmed by law that married priests should be separated from their wives and punished at the king's pleasure. But before this law was published, the Bishop of Canterbury sent Lord Pachet [i.e. Paget] from Lambeth to me at London.... He directed me to call upon the archbishop early in the morning. When I called upon him, "Happy man that you are," said he, "you can escape! I wish that I might do the same; truly my see would be no hindrance to me. You must make haste to escape before the island is blocked up, unless you are willing to sign the decree, as I have, compelled by fear. I repent of what I have done. And if I had known that my only punishment would have been deposition from the archbishopric (as I hear that my Lord Latimer is deposed), of a truth I would not have subscribed. I am grieved, however, that you have been deprived of your salary for three years by Crumwell;[322] that you have no funds for your travelling expenses, and that I have no ready money. Nor dare I mention this to my friends, lest the king should become aware that warning had been given by me for you to escape, and that I have provided you with the means of travelling. I give you, however, this ring as a token of my friendship. It once belonged to Thomas Wolsey, and it was presented to me by the king when he gave me the archbishopric."
When I heard what the bishop had to say, I immediately caused my property to be sold, and I concealed myself in the house of a German sailor until the ship was ready, in which I embarked, dressed as a soldier, along with other German troops, that I might not be detected. When I had escaped a company of searchers, I wrote to Crumwell (although he had not behaved well towards me) and warned him of the danger in which he stood at that time, and about certain other matters. For this I can vouch the testimony of John Ales, Gregory, and the Secretary, and Pachet himself. But Christopher Mount said that Crumwell did not dare to speak to me when I was going away and soliciting my dismissal, nor could he venture to give me anything, lest he should be accused to the king, but that he would send the sum that he owed me into Germany.[323]
The next intelligence, however, which I heard of him was that he had undergone capital punishment by order of the king; to whom he had written, when in prison, saying that he was punished by the just judgment of God, because he had loved the king more than God; and that out of deference to his sovereign he had caused many innocent persons to be put to death, not sparing your [i.e., Elizabeth's] most holy mother, nor had he obeyed her directions in promoting the doctrine of the Gospel.—(Foreign Calendar, Elizabeth, i. 532-534).]
APPENDIX H (p. [281]).
ALESIUS' INVITATION OF MELANCHTHON TO HIS DAUGHTER'S WEDDING.
Nockau, 11 August 1557.
Alexander Alesius au Melanchthon.
S.D. Quod fœlix faustumque sit. Dilectissima filia mea Anna, cui nomen in baptismo indidit bonæ memoriæ primogenita vestra, desponsata est honesto iuveni Martino Luxsolario (nam solem etiam pro insigni habet), doctoris Martini filio, petente id sua matre per cognatos et affines, et suadentibus communibus amicis nostris. Dictus est autem dies nuptiarum ultimus Augusti, circa quod tempus vos ad colloquium profecturum (sic) spero. Peto igitur reverenter et amanter, ut una cum honestissima coniuge vestra, genero, filia ac nepte nuptias vestra praesentia ornare velitis. Existimo autem magistrum Paulum, amanuensem vestrum, una venturum, sed tamen ut eum cum uxore invitetis meis verbis ad nuptias oro. Scitis autem summum sacerdotem et pontificem nostrum filium Dei, qui primos parentes in paradyso copulavit, et non minore magnificentia quam sapientia et potencia suam ordinationem contra sophistica et tyrannidem diaboli et multiplicem ingratitudinem nostram defendit, ut totam actionem, ita etiam invitacionem hospitum et communia officia sua presentia et primo miraculo comprobasse[t] ac monstrasse[t], quantum dilectetur (sic) istis congressibus. Nos autem parentes et amici, sponsi et sponsae, una cum eis, pro hoc officio et molestia profectionis gratitudinem pollicemur per omnem occasionem.
Ex pago Nockau postridie Laurentii 1557.