University of Virginia Library

Here foloweth an olde treatyse made aboute the tyme of kynge Rycharde the seconde.

The husbandman.
Loo/nowe by this treatyse may ye well se
That aforetymes against the spiritualte
Men dyd invey/shewinge their vyces.
Also here after this auctour dothe tell
What great Ieoparde it is and perell
For priestes to be in secular offices.
Ye/and to lordes which against right
Suffre them therein or therto excyte
Prouynge it by their owne doctours & lawes

Gentillman.
I beseche the rede forthe the processe
That the people may se their vnhappenesse
Which make all the world foles & dawes.

Husbandman.
Syr howe lyke ye nowe this olde treatyse
Yf so be noble men wold it aduertyse
Puttynge a parte pryuate affeccion.
Shuld they not perceyue here euydently
That the clergye dothe theym great iniury
Retaynynge thus temporall possessyon?

Gentyllman.
Nowe I promyse the after my iudgement
I haue not hard of soche an olde fragment
Better groundyd on reason with scripture.
Yf soche auncyēt thynges myght come to lyght
That noble men hadde ones of theym a syght
The world yet wolde chaunge perauenture
For here agaynst the clergye can not bercke
Sayenge as they do/thys is a newe wercke
Of heretykes contryued lately.
And by thys treatyse it apperyth playne
That before oure dayes men dyd compleyne
Agaynst clerkes ambycyon so stately

Husbandman.
Concernynge thys treatyse and lyke matters
I haue hard saye of my forefathers
Howe in kynge henry the .v. raygne.
What tyme as ye dyd specyfye
The clergye persecutyd the gospell fercely
Causynge moche chrystē people to be slayne
The kynge at the last hauynge informacyon
Thourough seryous consyderacyon
Of soche proper matters as thys is.
Beganne to note the clergyes tyranny
And what temporaltees/they dyd occupye
Their spirituall state ferre a mysse.
Wherfore he determyned certeynly
To depryue theym temporally
Of all theyr worldly gouuernaunce.
Whos pretence/as sone as they perceyued
Amonge theym selfes they Imagyned
To get the kynge ouer in to fraunce.
That whyles he conqueryd ther his ryght
In england do what they lyst they myght
Theyr froward tyranny to fulfyll.
Which counseil/thus brought to passe
The kynge euer after so busyed wasse
That he could not performe hys sayde wyll.

Gentyllman.
So moote I the/it was happye for the kynge
That by soche a colour they could hym brynge
From medlynge with that case any more.
For hadde he it ones ernestly begonne
They had put hym to a confusyon
Euene as they dyd other kynges before.

Husbandman.
What suppose ye they wold haue done?

Gentyllman.
Mary/fyrst with a fayre interdyccion
To coursse the lande as blacke as pytche.
Than to inhybyt sayenge and syngynge
Of mattyns/masse/and belles ryngynge
With christen buryall of poore and ryche.
Besyde that precheres euery where
Shuld haue brought men in soche fere
By theyr threatnynge exclamacyon.
That their malycyous partye to take
Subgettes shuld theyr prynce forsake
Contrary to goddes ordynacyon.
Euene as they dyd in hygh Germany
To the Emperour lewes of Bauerye
Whom Pope Ihone sought to confounde
And so dyd the clergy as I vnderstande
Vnto kynge Ihon here in Englande
To kynge Steuen/& henry the secounde.

Husbandman.
They saye kynge Ihone was poysoned
Because an halfe peny lofe of breed
He sayde/he wold make worthe .xij. pence.

Gentillman.
Tushe that is a cast of theyr comon gyse
Soche infamy of prynces to deuyse
To cloke theyr oune tyrannous vyolence.
For hadde not kynge Ihon gone aboute
From their temporaltees to put theym owt
He hadde bene longe after a lyues man.
But murder they neuer so shamefully
They can geue it a cloke full craftely
Sayenge/nobis non licet occidere quenquā.
Whan they brennyd the newe testament
They pretendyd a zele very feruent
To maynteyne onely goddes honour.
Which they sayde with protestacyon
Was obscured by translacyon
In englysshe/causynge moche errour.
But the trueth playnly to be sayde
Thys was the cause why they were a frayde
Least laye men shuld knowe theyr iniquite.
Which through goddes worde is so vttred
That it were not possyble to be suffred
Yf to rede scripture men had lyberte.
Also after the same maner a fasshyon
Subtelly to colour theyr abhomynacyon
They destroyed cronicles not longe a gone.
Which for certeyne poyntes vnreuerently
Soundynge a gaynst the kynges auncetrye
As they saye/were brent euerychone.
But for all that/they shulde haue been spared
From burnynge: had they not so declared
The clergyes abhomynable excesse.

Husbandman.
I suppose then/that they vse the same wayes
In burnynge of heretykes nowe a dayes
Whom they pursue with great furyousnes.

Gentillman.
No fayle/they perswade temporall menne
Thes heretykes (as they saye) to brenne
Least other good christians they shuld īfecte
But ye cause why they wolde haue theim rydde
Is onely that theyr vnhappynes nowe hydde
They dreede least they shuld openly detecte

Husbandman.
By my trouth it is nothinge vnlickly.
For let one lyue neuer so wyckedly
In abhominable scandalisacion.
As longe as he will their church obaye
Not refusynge his tithes duely to paye
They shall make of him no accusacion.
Howbeyt let him ones begynne to pynche
Or withdrawe their tithinge an ynche
For an heretike they will him aseite.
Wherfore I wonder moche of the temporalte
That in performynge the clargyes cruelte
To burne soche parsones they haue delyte.

Gentillman
It is no merueil yf thou marcke well
The clargye sayenge yt it is goddes quarrell
Their mischeuous murdre to execute.

Husbandman.
So they are not a knowen by their wyll
That it is their cause christen men to kyll
But the faute vnto other they impute.

Gentyllman.
Touchinge that/another tyme at leyser
I shall shewe the more of their maner
But nowe I can not tary verely.

Husbandman.
Well syr/yf ye may no longer abyde
Oure lorde be your continuall gyde
Grauntinge ye trouth to be knowen openly.