THE MONKS SURRENDER THEIR HOUSE. 231

the laws, may be more mild and tolerable; we give, grant, and deliver to our illustrious prince and lord, Henry the Eighth, by the grace of God King of England and France, Lord of Ireland, supreme head in earth of the Church of England, and our patron and that of our monastery and priory, the said monastery and priory, and all and every its manors, etc. .

The monks seem to have believed that after making over their property, or rather the property of the Church, to the king, they would be allowed to live together in peace, and to keep, as in the days gone by, their holy Rule. Under this pretext they suffered themselves first.to be persuaded to declare that Henry was head of the Church, and then to make him owner of the Charterhouse. course the tyrant and his sycophants only meant the monks to remain there until it was convenient to

Of

disperse them. In the mean time, however, they were doubtless permitted to enjoy greater exterior peace than for years past they had been accustomed to, but their guilty consciences can have allowed them but little real repose.

CHAPTER IX.

FATHERS FOX AND CHAUNCY ARE SENT TO SION HOUSE-THEIR FALL, AND RETURN TO THE CHARTERHOUSE-EXPULSION OF THE MONKS.

IN August, 1537, Father Henry Man,1 Prior of Sheen and, by royal appointment, Visitor of the English Charterhouses, and Father John Mitchel, Prior of Witham and Assistant Visitor, visited the Charterhouse of Beauvale. They found there two monks from London who had not yet acknowledged the king's alleged right to be head of the Church of England. These were Fathers John Fox and Maurice Chauncy, two of the four religious who, on the 4th of May, 1536, had been sent from London to other houses of the Order. The glorious death

of the two who went to the Charterhouse of Hull

2

has already been recorded; it remains to be told what happened to Fox and Chauncy, who, when the Visitors arrived at Beauvale, had been guests there for over fifteen months.

The two pious monks being very desirous to

1

Supra, p. 211.

2

Supra, pp. 214–217.

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return to the house of their profession, the Visitors granted their request and sent them back to London. They were not, however, permitted to return at once to the Charterhouse, for it was thought proper to pervert them before they rejoined their brethren. So, not unwisely, they were sent to the Bridgettine Fathers at Sion, who it was hoped would induce them to take the oath. Their state of mind at this time-nearly three months after Trafford's surrender of the Charterhouse-may be gathered from the letter which the Visitors addressed to Father Copinger, who had succeeded Father Fewterer in the office of Confessor General at Sion.

"To the good and religious Father, Master Copinger, General Confessor at Sion.

"Father Confessor, in our Saviour Jesus be your salvation. We have sent to you our brethren Fox and Chauncy, to whom we beseech you to show your charity, as you have done to divers others of our brethren before this. They be very scrupulous in the matter concerning the Bishop of Rome, but they be not obstinate. We trust you shall find them reasonable and tractable, for they be much desirous. to have your counsel, and to speak with you facie ad faciem. Each of them hath a book wherein be such authorities as they do lean unto. We pray you hear all that they will propose, and thereto make such answers as your learning and wisdom shall move you. We were purposed to have reasoned with

them in every point contained in their books; but their desire was so much to speak with you, and to be removed from the house where they were, that we thought it good to condescend to their request, and not to spend so long time with them, for we had much business with certain others, as they can tell you. Therefore, good Father, for the love that you have to God's honour and the king's, to the wealth of their souls, and to the honesty of our religion, help to remove their scruples, as our trust is that you will. will. We pray you recommend us to our good mother, Lady Abbess, desiring her good will and furtherance herein. And we shall see that such cost as they shall put your house to shall be recompensed by the grace of Jesus, who augment His grace in you.

From the Charterhouse of Beauvale, the last day of August [1537], your loving brethren in God,

"Visitors of that Order assigned by the king's grace."

At Sion House, Fox and Chauncy must have learnt the fate of the ten monks who had refused the oath. They were told, moreover, how the others, by taking the oath, had preserved the Charterhouse from destruction. But the Charterhouse,

1 Printed in Smythe's Historical Account of Charterhouse, p. 84, from MSS. Cotton, Cleopatra, E. iv. 247; and abridged in Letters and Papers, vol. vii. 1105.

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they heard, was still in danger of being suppressed, unless they would add their consent to that of their brethren, for the submission of all the monks was required.

When Prior Trafford informed his monks of the efforts the religious of Sion were making in order to bring Fox and Chauncy to conformity, Dom William Broke and Dom Bartholomew Burgoyn, two of the eight who were sent to Sion on a former occasion,' wrote the following letter to Father Copinger

"To the Father Confessor of Sion.

Right worshipful Father, we two, your children and sons unworthy, recommend us to you in our most loving manner. We have heard by our worshipful Father Prior, part of the great pains which (of a sincere love and pure charity that ye have to God and our religion) ye take with our two brethren now being with you, for whom we thank you as for our own selves. We cannot but think St. Paul's words to be verified in you, viz. ‘Caritas non quærit quæ sua sunt,' etc. We have not yet forgotten the pains and patience and longanimity that ye had with us when we were with you, and how hard it was (and in a manner impossible) to us to follow your counsel. But in process of time we did follow your counsel, thanks be to Jesu. This we write, for we suppose it to be thus with our brethren; and if it be thus, we instantly desire you to continue your Supra, p. 218.

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