18 Edward III. (1344) Stat. 3, c. 2. (Here summarised.) If a person accused pleads his clergy, and it is alleged that he has married two wives, or one widow, the case shall be sent for determination to the Spiritual Court.
These provisions were abolished by I Edward VI. (1547), c. 12, s. 15, which put the “bigamist” on the same footing as all others.
1525. In the last moneth called December were taken certain traytors in the citie of Couentry, one called Fraunces Philippe scolemaster to the kynges Henxmen, and one Christopher Pykeryng clerke of yᵉ Larder, and one Antony Maynuile gentleman, which by the persuasion of the sayd Fraunces Philip, entended to haue taken the kynges treasure of his subsidie as the Collectors of the same came towarde London, and then to haue araised men and taken the castle of Kylingworth, and then to haue made battaile against the kyng: wherfore the sayd Fraunces, Christopher and Anthony wer hanged, drawen and quartered at Tyborne the xi. day of Februarye, the residue that were taken, were sent to the citie of Couentry and there wer executed. One of the kynges Henxmen called Dygby which was one of the conspirators fled the realme, and after had his pardon (Hall, p. 673).
1531. This yeare Mr. Risse was beheaded at Tower hill, and one that was his servante was drawne from the Tower of London to Tiburne, where he was hanged, his bowells burnt, and his bodie quartered.[148]
1534. With the aid of Cranmer, the willing instrument of his lust and cruelty, Henry had divorced Catherine, and had married his mistress, Anne Boleyn, the sister of a former mistress. With the same aid he had also invested himself with the supremacy of the Church. But there was a strong feeling throughout the country against these proceedings, and Henry viewed with alarm every manifestation of this feeling. To express disapprobation, however mildly, was regarded as a crime, as evidence of a conspiracy against the State.
Elizabeth Barton, afterwards known as the Holy Maid of Kent, was a domestic servant at Aldington, Kent. From about the year 1525 she was subject to trances, on recovery from which she narrated the marvels she had seen in the world of spirits. Her fame was soon spread abroad; many of the greatest men in the kingdom visited her; some came to believe that she was inspired, among them perhaps Sir Thomas More, and Fisher, Bishop of Rochester. When the great case of the divorce came on, Elizabeth predicted that if Henry married Anne during the life of Catherine he would die within a month. Cranmer, who had now received the reward of his services by being appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, laboured to draw from Elizabeth a confession that “her predictions were feigned of her own imagination only.”
In the Parliament which met in January, 1534, seven persons, including Elizabeth, were accused of forming a conspiracy in relation to the matter. This was the end:—
1534. The 20. of Aprill, Elizabeth Barton a nunne professed [she had entered a convent in 1527], Edward Bocking, and Iohn Dering, two monks of Christs church in Canterburie, and Richard Risby & another of his fellowes of yᵉ same house, Richard Master parson of Aldington, and Henry Gold priest, were drawne from the Tower of London to Tiborne, and there hanged and headed, the nuns head was set on London bridge, and the other heades on gates of yᵉ citie (Stow, p. 570).
1535. Maurice Chauncy, a monk of the Charterhouse of London, has told the story of the martyrdom of the Carthusians, in a book which some one, I think, has called the swan-song of English monasticism, “Historia Aliquot Martyrum Anglorum Cartusianorum.”
Proceedings were taken against the London Carthusians for refusing to admit Henry’s claim to be supreme head of the Church. In the London House were at this time Father Robert Lawrence, Prior of Beauvale, and Father Augustine Webster, Prior of Axholme; Beauvale and Axholme being two other Carthusian monasteries.