DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6914#0054
22
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
occurred in any nation; the abolition of that spiritual slavery in which the court of
Rome had so long held the minds of our ancestors. A formidable opposition to
that usurped authority had long existed in Europe, and had maintained its ground
in spite of the charge and punishment of heresy.
The followers of Wickliff, called Lollards, notwithstanding the sanguinary per-
secutions of the clergy, had never been extirpated in England. On the Continent,
the Waldenses and other separatists continued to make proselytes, in spite of the
cruelties and flames by which their enemies endeavoured to silence them. At
length the discontented monk, Martin Luther, began to declaim against the prac-
tice of the church of Rome, on account of the scandalous traffic in indulgences,
which was carried to a most infamous extent, and his doctrines, with those of
Calvin, obtained a powerful effect in Switzerland and Germany. At this period
the invention of printing, by facilitating the progress of knowledge, had awakened
a general opinion of the necessity of a reform in the church, which seemed to
have sunk into the most depraved and ignorant state in which it had ever existed.
Against the doctrines of Luther Henry VIII. thought fit to enter the lists of
literary contention; and though he excited only the contempt of his opponent,
he obtained the approbation of the Pope, and the title of " Defender of the Faith,"
which character he thenceforth assumed, and commenced that horrid career of
intolerant cruelty which brought so many champions of the most opposite opinions
to the stake. This monarch was married, by a papal dispensation, to Katherine,
the Infanta of Spain, and widow of his brother, Prince Arthur; from whom he
became early desirous, after having three children by her, to be divorced,
assigning conscientious scruples on the invalidity of the Pope's dispensation.
Cardinal Wolsey projected a new match for him, with the sister of Francis L
of France, and undertook to obtain the necessary divorce. But the Pope, fearing
the resentment of Emperor Charles V., Queen Katherine's powerful kinsman, did
every thing in his power to protract or prevent this divorce, without openly
refusing to grant it; and concluded by citing the king and queen to Rome. In
the meantime the king's fancy, rather than his affection, had fixed on Lady Anne
Boleyn, whom he married. The Pope remonstrating loudly against this pro-
ceeding, King Henry declared open war against him. He prohibited the payment
of annates, or first fruits to Rome, and disgraced Cardinal Wolsey, for holding
the legatine court under a foreign authority, contrary to the statute of Praemunire.
Cranmer was rewarded with the dignity of Archbishop of Canterbury for sug-
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
occurred in any nation; the abolition of that spiritual slavery in which the court of
Rome had so long held the minds of our ancestors. A formidable opposition to
that usurped authority had long existed in Europe, and had maintained its ground
in spite of the charge and punishment of heresy.
The followers of Wickliff, called Lollards, notwithstanding the sanguinary per-
secutions of the clergy, had never been extirpated in England. On the Continent,
the Waldenses and other separatists continued to make proselytes, in spite of the
cruelties and flames by which their enemies endeavoured to silence them. At
length the discontented monk, Martin Luther, began to declaim against the prac-
tice of the church of Rome, on account of the scandalous traffic in indulgences,
which was carried to a most infamous extent, and his doctrines, with those of
Calvin, obtained a powerful effect in Switzerland and Germany. At this period
the invention of printing, by facilitating the progress of knowledge, had awakened
a general opinion of the necessity of a reform in the church, which seemed to
have sunk into the most depraved and ignorant state in which it had ever existed.
Against the doctrines of Luther Henry VIII. thought fit to enter the lists of
literary contention; and though he excited only the contempt of his opponent,
he obtained the approbation of the Pope, and the title of " Defender of the Faith,"
which character he thenceforth assumed, and commenced that horrid career of
intolerant cruelty which brought so many champions of the most opposite opinions
to the stake. This monarch was married, by a papal dispensation, to Katherine,
the Infanta of Spain, and widow of his brother, Prince Arthur; from whom he
became early desirous, after having three children by her, to be divorced,
assigning conscientious scruples on the invalidity of the Pope's dispensation.
Cardinal Wolsey projected a new match for him, with the sister of Francis L
of France, and undertook to obtain the necessary divorce. But the Pope, fearing
the resentment of Emperor Charles V., Queen Katherine's powerful kinsman, did
every thing in his power to protract or prevent this divorce, without openly
refusing to grant it; and concluded by citing the king and queen to Rome. In
the meantime the king's fancy, rather than his affection, had fixed on Lady Anne
Boleyn, whom he married. The Pope remonstrating loudly against this pro-
ceeding, King Henry declared open war against him. He prohibited the payment
of annates, or first fruits to Rome, and disgraced Cardinal Wolsey, for holding
the legatine court under a foreign authority, contrary to the statute of Praemunire.
Cranmer was rewarded with the dignity of Archbishop of Canterbury for sug-