The.xl. chapyter

ANd veryly all be it as I sayd before, I purpose not to medle wyth euery parte of hys boke y• I thynke were well done for hym to amende: yet in hys seuenth chapyter & hys eyghte, which twayne create all of these maters of heresyes / for the great weyghte of the mater I shall not forbere to shew you some dyfference and dyuersyte bytwene hys mynde and myne.

An other occasyon of the sayde dyuysyon hath ben / by […]eason of dyuers futes, that haue ben taken in the spyrituall courtes of offyce, that is called in latyn, ex officio: so that the partyes haue not knowē who hath accused theym / and theruppon they haue somtyme ben caused to abiure in causes of beresyes: somtyme to do penaunce, or to pay great sommes of money for redemynge the[…]of / whyche vexacy[…] & changes the partes haue thought haue come to them by the […]udges and the offycers of the spirituall courte: for they haue knowen […]o[…]e other accu[…]ers, and that hath caused myche p[…]ople in […] parties of thys realme to thynke great malyce and parcyalyte in the spyrytuall iudges. And yf a man be ex officio broughte before the ordynarye for h[…]resye, yf he be notably suspected of heresye: he mu[…]e purge hym selfe after the will of the ordynarye, or be accursed, and that is by the lawe extrade hereti[…]is. cap. & Ad ab[…]sendam. And that is thought by many to be a very harde lawe, for a man may be susspected and not gyl[…]ye, and so be dryuen to a purgacyon wythout profe or wythout offence in hym, […]r be accursed.

I wyll in thys poynt of cō uentynge ex officio, no ferther speke at thys tyme than concernynge the cryme of heresy. For I am in good fayth loth to medle wyth thys boke of hys at all. For loth am I any thynge to medle agaynst any other mannys wrytynge that is a catholyke man, sauynge that it semeth me veryly that be thys man neuer so good, yet if his minde were folowed in thys mater, it wold wurke thys realme great harme and no good.

For surely yf the conuentynge of heretyques ex officio were lefte, and chaūged into an other order, by whyche no man sholde be called be he neuer so sore suspected, nor by neuer so many men detected, but yf some man make hym selfe partye agaynste hym as hys accuser / the stretys were lykely to swarme full of heretykes before that ryght fewe were accused, or peradē […]ture any one eyther.

For what so euer the cause be / it is not vnknowen I am sure that many wyll geue vnto a iudge secrete enformaciō of suche thynges, as though they be trewe, yet gladly he wyll not or ꝑaduenture dare not, be openly a knowen that the mater came out by hym. And yet shall he sometyme geue the namys of dyuerse other / whyche beynge called by the iudge, and examyned as wytnessys agaynste theyr wyllys, bothe knowe & wyll also depose the trouth, and he that fyrste gaue enformacyon also / and yet wyll neuer one of them wyllingly make hym selfe an open accuser of the party, nor dare peraduenture for hys earys.

And thys fynde we not onely in heresy, but in many temporall maters amonge our self / wherof I haue hadde experyryence many a tyme and ofte, bothe in the dysclosynge of felo[…]es, and somtyme of mych other oppressyō vsed by some one man or twayn in a shyre, wherby all theyr neyghbours sore smarted / and yet not one durste openly complayne.

How be it, it cometh in heresyes somtyme to mych worse point. For I haue wyst where those that haue bene in the cō pany at the tyme, beyng folke of good substaunce and such as were taken fro wurshypfull, beyng called ī for wytnesses, haue fyrst made many delayes / and afterwarde beyng examyned on theyr othes, haue sworne that they herd it not, or remembre[…] it not, and toke no hede to the mater at the tyme / where as it well appered by y• deposycyons of dyuers other beynge wyth them at the tyme, ȳ […] in euery man[…]es conscyence they lyed.

whan wolde these folke bycome an hertykes accusar, agaynste whome they wolde rather be forsworne then of the trouth to bere wytnesse.

And thys thynge maketh, that yt may be somtyme (all be yt very selde yt happeth) that in heresy vppon other vehement suspycyons wythout wytnesse, a man may be put to his purgacyon and to penaunce also yf he fayle therof▪ whyche thynge why so many sholde now thynke so hard a lawe as this pacyfyer sayth they do / I can not se, nor those wyse men neyther that made the lawe. And yet were they many wyse men / and not onely as wyse, but peraduenture many mo also in nōber, then those that this pacyfyer calleth many nowe, that as he sayth fynd now the faute. For though yt be alledged in the extrauagat de hereticis ca. Ad abolend[…]: yet was that lawe made in a generall counsayle.

And veryly me thynketh that he whyche can not be proued gyltye in heresye, and yet vseth such maner of wayes y• all hys honeste neygh[…]ours wene he were one, and therfore dare not swere that in theyr conscyence they thynke him any other / is wel worthy me thynketh to do some penaunce for that maner of byhauour, wherby he geueth all other folke occasyon to take hym for so noughtye.

And by the comen lawe of this realme, many tymes vppon suspycyon the iudges a warde a wrytte to enquyre of what fame and behauour the man is in hys countrey / and hym selfe lyeth somtyme styll in pryson tyll the retourne / & yf he be retourned good, that is to wyt yf he be in a maner purged, then is he delyuered, and yet he payeth his fees ere he go. And yf he be retourned nought / thē vse the iudges to bynde hym for his good abe […]ynge, and somtyme suertyes wyth hym to, suche as theyre dyscrecyon wyll allowe. And then to lye styll tyll he fynde them, is somtyme as mych penaunce to the tone, as the spyrituall iudge enioyneth to the tother. For the tone cometh to the barre as openly as the tother to the cōsystory / & somtyme hys feters waye a good py[…]ce of a fagot, bysydes that they lye lēger on y• tone mans legges, then the fagot on the tothers sholdre. And yet is there no remedye but bothe these muste be done, both in the tone courte and in the tother / or ellys in stede of one harme (whyche to hym that deserueth yt not happeth seldome, and as seldome I am sure in heresye as in thefte, & myche more seldome to) ye shall haue tenne tymes more harme happen dayle to folke as innocent as they / and of innocentis many made nocentes, to the destruccyon of them selfe and other to, bothe in goodes body and soule.

And bycause this pacifyer taketh yt for so sore a thynge in the spyrytuall lawe, that a man shall be called ex officio for heresye, where he shall not know his accuser: yf we shold chaunge the spyrytuall lawe for that cause, then hadde we nede to chaūge the temporall to, in some suche poyntes as chaunge yt when ye wyll, and ye shall chaunge yt in to the worse for aught that I can se, but yf yt be better to haue mo theuys then f[…]wer.

For nowe yf a man be endyghted at a sessyons, & none euydens geuyn openly at the barre (as many be, and many may wel be. For thendytours maye haue euydence gyuen them a parte, or haue herde of the mater ere they cam there, & of whom be they not boūdē to tell, but be rather bounden to kepe it close, for they be sworen to kepe the kynges counsayle and theyr owne) shall than the party that is endyghted be put vnto no busynesse about hys acquytayles? And who shall tell him there the names of hys accusers, to entytle hym to hys wrytte of conspyracy? Thys pacyfyer wyll peraduenture say, that the same twelue men that are his endyghtours are hys accusours, and therfore he maye knowe them. […]ut what helpeth that hys vndeserued vexacyon yf he were fautelesse? For amendes the law geueth him none against any of theym, nor it were not well done he sholde / but may whan he is after by other.x[…]i. acquyte, go gette hym home and be mery that he hath had so fayre a daye / as a man get […]eth hym to the fyre & shaketh hys hatte after a shoure of rayne. And now as it often happeth, that a man cometh into a shoure by hys owne ouersyghte, though somtyme of chaunce and of aduenture: so suerly though somtyme it happe that a man he accused or endyghted of malyce, or of some lykelyhed whyche happed hym of chaunce and not hys faute therin / yet happeth it in comparyson very […]elde, but that the party by some demeanure of hym selfe gyueth occasion that folke haue hym so suspected.

Now yf thys pacyfyer say, that yet here is at the leste wyse in a temporall iudge an open cause apperyng, wherevppon men maye se that the iudge calleth hym not, but vppon a marter broughte vnto hym / where as the spyrytuall iudge maye call a man vppon hys owne pleasure yf he bere the party dyspleasure: this is very well sayde as for the tēporall iudge. But what sayth he nowe for the temporall.xii. men? For ye wote wel they may do the same yf they were so dysposed / & then had I as lyue the iudge might do yt as they. For in good fayth I neuer saw the day yet, but that I durst as well trust the trouth of one iudge as of two iuryes. But the iudges be so wyse men, that for the auoydynge of obloquye, they wyll not be put in the truste.

And I dare saye the ordynaryes be not so folysshe neyther, but that they worlde as fayne auoyde it to yf they myghte / sauynge that very necessyte lest all sholde fall to nought, compelleth them to take thys waye / whyche necessyte sometyme causeth also bothe the temporall iudges & the kynges counsayle, to put some foke to busynesse or dyshonestye sometyme, wythout eyther iury or bryngynge of the accuser to the prose of the mater in the partyes presen[…]e

For yf the iudge knowe by sure enformacyon, that some one man is of suche euyll demeanure amonge hys neyghbours, that they may not bere it / & yet that the mā is bysyde so violent and so iubardouse, that none of theym dare be a knowen to speke of it: wyll there no iudges vppon many secrete complayntes made vnto them, wythout makyng the partye preuy who tolde hym the tale, bynde that busy troubelouse man to good aberynge? I supposeyes, & haue sene it so to / and wrong wold it be sometyme wyth good pore peasyble folke in the cū trey, but yf it were so done amonge. And my selfe whan I was chauncellour, vppon such secrete enformacyō haue put some out of commyssyon […]nd offyce of iustyce of the peace, whyche ellys for mych money I wold not haue done and yet yf I were in the tone rome styll & they in the tother agayn, but yf they be mended (wherof I neyther than saw[…] nor yet here any lykelyhed) I wolde put them out agayne, and neuer tell them who told me the tales that made me so to do.

But yet wyll peraduenture thys pacyfyer saye, that some tyme in some very specyall case, he coulde be content that the spyrytuall iudge sholde vpon hys dyscrecyon call one for suspycyon of heresye ex officio / but he wolde not haue men comēly called, but eyther by accusacyon or presentemē […] in theyr senys or endyghte[…] mentes at the comon lawe. I had as lyefe for any thyng that I se, that thys pacyfyer sholde say thus: By this way that they be called I wolde not haue theym called / but I wolde haue them called after suche an order as they myght be sure that than sholde they neuer be called. For as for accuse folke openly for heresye, euery man hath experyence inough, that ye shall seldome fynde any man that wyll / but yf the iudge sholde set an offycer of the court therto wythout any perell of expensys / & than were thys way and that waye all of one effecte. And as for presentementes and endyghtemētes, what effecte wolde come of theym concernynge heresy, ye se the profe I trow metely well all redy.

For thys is a thynge well knowē vnto euery man, that in euery sene, euery sessyon of peace, euery sessyon of gaole de[…]yuery euery lete thorough the realme, the fyrste thynge that the iury haue gyuē them in charge is heresye. And for all thys, thorowe the whole realme howe many presentementes be there made in the whole yere. I wene in some seuen yere not one. And I suppose no man dowteth, but that in the meane tyme some there be. I wyll not be curyouse about the serchynge out of the cause, why it is eyther neuer or so very selde presented, not fyue in fyftene yere.

But thys I saye, that syth some wyll not, some can not, and none dothe / yf he sholde putte awaye the processe ex officio, the thynge sholde be lefte vndone / and than shold soone after wyth heretykes encreaced & multiplyed, the fayth be vndone / & after y• thorough the stroke of god reuengyng theyr malyce and our neglygence, sholde by sedycyon, & trouble, and derth, and deth, ī this realme many men both good and badde be vndone. And therfore for conclusyon of this pyece, my pore aduyce and counsayle shalbe, that for heresye, and specyally nowe this tyme / men shall suffer the processes ex officio stande / & for as many other synnys also as are onely reformable by y• spyrytuall lawe, excepte there be any suche synnys of them as ye thynke were good to growe.