. A history of mediaeval and modern Europe for secondary schools. did not deny Henrys power as temporalking, but simply refused to take an oath of loyalty to his religious pretensions. 2 Some of the English monasteries seem to have been grievously corrupt;others austere and well administered. There is little doubt that Cromwellscommissioners who investigated the monasteries were very unfair men, but theexact facts are hard to reach. 3 This was a measure of Parliament declaring an offender guilty of a greatcrime and ordering his execution without trial,— a fearful engine when used by adespotic
. A history of mediaeval and modern Europe for secondary schools. did not deny Henrys power as temporalking, but simply refused to take an oath of loyalty to his religious pretensions. 2 Some of the English monasteries seem to have been grievously corrupt;others austere and well administered. There is little doubt that Cromwellscommissioners who investigated the monasteries were very unfair men, but theexact facts are hard to reach. 3 This was a measure of Parliament declaring an offender guilty of a greatcrime and ordering his execution without trial,— a fearful engine when used by adespotic Government. THE RELIGIOUS REVOLT IN ENGLAND 47 quartered for affirming that Catherine of Aragon was notlawfully divorced. But, in truth, the kings position was anuntenable one. The current of events was driving him to favorthe Protestants, if he would not go back to Rome. The courtiersand bishops were divided, some very conservative, some (withCranmer at their head) urging more changes. And little bylittle the Protestant party prevailed. In 1539, an official. ENGLISH WARSHIP OF THE TIME OF HENRY VIII translation of the Bible had been ordered1 and its possessionallowed to most private persons, although its free use was fora while forbidden to husbandmen, artificers, journeymen,and to all women below the rank of gentlewoman. This, ofcourse, was a mighty step toward a general religious change;while the next advance — the allowing part of the Church 1 The first printed English Bible had been published by William Tyndale,beginning in 1525. It had to be printed in Germany, owing to official oppositionin England. Tyndales version seems to have been the basis for about all thelater translations, including the King Jamess Version — now in general use. 248 HISTORY OF EUROPE liturgy to be translated into English — followed before Henrysdeath. True, almost down to the end the king continued to invokethe bloody laws of persecution almost impartially against bothparties, but when he
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