The Ceremonial of receiving the Cardinal’s Hat, sent by the Pope to Wolsey. Extracted from a MS. in the Herald’s Office. Ceremon. vol. 3. p. 219.
[FROM FIDDES’ COLLECTIONS. See p. 92.]
In the yeare of our Lord 1515, the 15th daie of November, being Thursdaie and the seaventh yeare of our sovereigne lord King Henry the Eight, the said prothonitary enter’d into London, which before according was mett bothe at the sea side, likewise at Canterbury and at Rochester with the bishop of the same, and at Black Heath theare mett with him the Reverend Father in God the Bishop of Lincolne, the Earle of Essex, and many other gent. of great honour, both spiritual and temporal, and soe proceeded through London, the Bishop of Lincolne ridinge on the right hand [of] the said prothonitary and the Earle of Essex on his left hand, having with them sixe horses or above, and they all well beseeming and keeping a good order in their proceeding. The Maior of London with the aldermen on horseback in Cheapside, and the crafte stoode in the streets after there custome: and when the said Hatt was comen to the Abbey of Westminster, wheare at the north door of the same was redie th Abbot and eight abbotts besides him, all in pontificalibus, and honorabilie received it; and in like sort the same conveied to the high alter, whearuppon it was sett. The Sundaie next following, the eightenth daie, the most Reverend Father in God my Lord Cardinal, well accompanied with noble and gentlemen, both spiritual and temporal, being on horseback, as knights, barons, bishops, earles, dukes, and arch-bishops, all in due order proceeded from his place betwixt eight and nyne of the clocke to the abbey; and at the dore beforesaid, his grace with all the noble men descended from their horses and went to the high alter, wheare on the south side was ordeyned a goodlie travers from my Lord Cardinal, and when his grace was comen into it, imediatelie began the Masse of the Holy Ghost, songen by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Lincoln Gospeller, and the Bishop of Excester Epistoler, th Arch Bishops of Armachan and Dublyn, the Bishops of Winchester, Duresme, Norwiche, Ely, and Landaffe, and viii abbotts, as of Westminster, Saint Albans, Bury, Glastonbury, Reading, Glocestre, Winche-Combe, Tewkesbury, and the Prior of Coventrie, all in pontificalibus. The Bishop of Rochester was crosier to my Lord of Canterbury during the mass. Mr Doctor Collet, Deane of Powles, made a brief collation or proposition, in which especially he touched thre things, That is to witt, the name of a cardinal, and wheareof it is said, alsoe the highe honour and dignitie of the same, and as keeping the articles due and belonging to it, and by what meanes he obtained to this high honour chieflie, as by his own merits, theare naminge divers and sundrie vertues that he hath used, which have been the cause of his high and joyous promotion to all the realme. The second cause of his promotion was through our sovereigne lord the king, for the greate zeale and favour that our holy father the pope hath to his grace. The second thing, is touching the dignitie of a prince as having power judicial. The third, of a bishop signifying both the old and newe lawe, and havinge the power of them, and also the highe and great power of a cardinal, and howe he betokeneth the free beames of wisdome and charitie, which the apostles received of the Holie Ghoste on Whitsundaie, and a cardinal representeth the order of seraphin, which continually brenneth in the love of the glorious Trinity; and for thies considerations a cardinal is onelie apparrelled with redd, which collour onelie betokeneth nobleness; and howe these three estates before named be collocated and placed in heaven, also he exhorteth theare my lord cardinal, saying to him in this wise: Non magnitudo superbum extollat nobilitatissimum honorisq; dignitate. But remember that our Saviour in his owne person said to his disciples, Non veni ministrari, sed ministrare; & qui minor inter vos his maior regno Celorum, et qui se exaltat humiliabilitur, & qui se humiliat exaltabitur; my lord cardinal, be glad and enforce your selfe always to doe and execute righteousness to riche and poore, and mercy with truth; and desired all people to praie for him that he might the rather observe these poynts, and in accomplishinge the same what his reward shall be in the Kingdom of Heaven; and so ended. The Bull was read by Doctor Vecy, Deane of the King’s Chappell, and Excestre, and at Agnus Dei came forth of his travers my Lord Cardinal and kneeled before the middle of the high alter, wheare for a certayne tyme he laye gravelling, his hood over his head, during benedictions and prayers, concerning the high Creation of a Cardinal, said over him by the Right Reverend Father in God the Arch-Bishop of Canterburie, which alsoe sett the hatt uppon his head. Then Te Deum was sung. All service and ceremonies finished, my Lord came to the doore before-named, led by the Dukes of Norffolk and Suffolk, where his grace with all the noble men ascended uppon their horses, and in good order proceeded to his place by Charing Crosse, next before him the crosse, preceeding it the mace such as belongeth a cardinal to have, and then my Lord of Canterbury, havinge no crosse borne before him, with the Bishop of Winchester, before them the Duke of Norffolk and Suffolk together, and in like order the residue of the noblemen, as the Bishop of Durham with the Popes Orator, then the Marquess Dorsett with the Earle of Surrey, the Earle of Shrewsburie, the Earle of Essex, the Earle of Wiltshire, the Earle of Derby, the Lord of St. Johns, the Lord Fitzwater, the Lord of Burgaveny, the Lord Dawbeny, the Lord Willoughby, the Lord Hastings, the Lord Ferrers, the Lord Lattimer, the Lord Cobham, and the Lord Darcey, Sir Henry Marney, Sir John Peche, Sir Thomas a Parr, Sir Nicholas Vaux, and so all other Banneretts, Knyghts, and Gentlemen before, after their degrees, and following his grace the Arch-bishop of Armachan and Dublyn, the Bishops of Lincolne and Norwiche, Excestre, Ely, and Rochester, and the ——, after them, my Lords Cardinals place, being well sorted in every behalfe, and used with goodlie order, the hall and chambers garnished very sumptuouslie with riche arras, a great feast kept as to suche a highe and honourable creation belongeth. At the which were the King & Queene and the French Queene, with all the noblemen above specified, alsoe present at the creation the Lord Fineaux, the Lord Read, the Barons of the Exchequer, with other Judges and Serjeants at Law.
FINIS.
POEMS.
BY
GEORGE CAVENDISH.
The Poems of George Cavendish, which accompany the Life of Wolsey in the Original Autograph Manuscript, consist of a series of Visions upon the Fortunes and Fall of the most eminent Persons of his time.
The reader is here presented with the Prologue; the Legend of Wolsey; and the Author’s Address to his Book; with two stanzas from a long Epitaph on Queen Mary. This specimen, it is presumed, will be deemed sufficient to convey an idea of the style of Cavendish in verse. It should be remembered, that the Mirror for Magistrates, which subsequently became so popular, had not then been given to the world. Cavendish, therefore, may have formed his plan from Lydgate’s Fall of Princes. Traces of the same kind of versification, which is evidently intended to depend more on rhythmical cadence than the number of feet in the verse, will be found in Skelton, in Stephen Hawes, Nicholas Grimoald, and other contributors to Tottel’s Miscellany of Songes and Sonnettes. In the MS. copy there is no punctuation; but instead we have the mark of the pause or cæsura in the middle and occasionally at the end of the line; as may be remarked in the example on the plate of fac-similes.