Page:Protestant Exiles from France Agnew vol 1.djvu/24

 Before 1685, Canterbury, Colchester, Dover, Faversham, Glastonbury, Maidstone, Norwich, Rye, Sandtoft, Sandwich, Southampton, Stamford, Thorney Abbey, Whittlesea, Winchester, Yarmouth. [Some of these were literally Dutch churches, but “Walloons” and “Huguenots” used them.]

At and after 1685, Barnstaple, Bideford, Bristol, Chelsea, Dartmouth, Exeter, Greenwich, Hammersmith, Plymouth, Stonehouse, Thorpe-le-Soken.

On the 6th July 1553, the death of King Edward VI. took place; and thus to Protestant refugees his kingdom was no longer a refuge. The bloody hierarchy of Rome re-established its rule in England, and invested its regal slave, Queen Mary, with the epithet which was truly its own. The Protestant exiles fled. John a Lasco went back to the Continent, and the sanctuaries under his superintendence were shut up. We say nothing of the dismal night which followed. We awake on the morning of November 18th, 1558, and find that both the Popish Queen and the Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury have disappeared from the scene.

The refugees” protector, Archbishop Cranmer, having perished in the fires of the last reign, another Protestant Primate had to be chosen. And the new Archbishop, whose name has been embalmed by the Parker Society, was also a friend of the refugees. The Bishop of London, Dr Edmund Grindal, (whose final destination was Canterbury), took the necessary steps for having the charters of their churches restored to them. The London refugees” petition for this re-establishment, addressed to the Queen, was dated 10th December 1559.

Many refugees came over during the early years of the reign of Elizabeth, England having become English again. I have ransacked Strype’s numerous folios, and have been much indebted to them. Strype’s best documentary information is from the papers of Queen Elizabeth’s great minister, Sir William Cecil, known as Mr Secretary Cecil, after 1570 as Lord Burghley, and after 1572 as the Lord High Treasurer of England.

In 1562 the Queen was prevailed upon to send succour to the French Protestants. Sir Nicholas Throgmorton had interviews in France with Theodore Beza, and conveyed to Cecil a letter from that famous divine, dated at Caen, 16 March 1562, (signed) T. de Belze. This letter is printed in Strype’s “Annals of Queen Elizabeth,” Second Appendix, B., vol. i.

In 1567 a Secret League was concocted among the Popish Potentates for the partition of Europe among rulers attached to the Church of Rome (Mary, Queen of Scots, to receive the English crown), and for the extirpation of Protestantism — the eleventh Article was to this effect, “Every man shall be commanded and holden to go to mass, and that on pain of excommunication, correction of the body, or death, or (at the least) loss of goods, which goods shall be parted and distributed amongst the principal lieutenants and captains.” ("Annals of Q. Eliz.,” i. 538.) On 15th July 1567 the Canterbury refugees presented a petition to the authorities of that city, asking to be formed into an industrial fraternity. In 1568 there was a great influx of refugees and an extensive founding of settlements for them throughout England. Strype assures us (Ibid. p. 555), “This year flesh, fish, wheat and other provisions bore a very cheap price; and that which gave a greater remark to this favourable providence of God to the nation was, that this happened contrary to all men’s expectations; for all had feared, but a little before, a great dearth. This was esteemed such considerable news in England that Parkhurst, Bishop of Norwich, in his correspondence with the divines of Helvetia, wrote it to Gualter his friend, one of the chief ministers of Zurich, and added that he was persuaded, and so were others, that this blessing from God happened by reason of the godly exiles, who were hither fled for their religion, and here kindly harboured; whereby, in their strait circumstances, they might provide at a cheaper rate for themselves and their families.” Strype complains of a mixture of Anabaptists, and disorderly and criminal people among those refugees, but adds, “many (it must be acknowledged) were very pious and sober, and some very learned too. Of their wants this year compassion was had among the bishops; and I find Bishop Jewel, May 3, sending up to the Archbishop three pounds six and eightpence, for the use of the poor exiles, for his part.”

Influenced by the allegation (already alluded to) unfavourable to the religion and morals of some refugees, the Government made a numerical and religious census of foreign residents. Strype prints (supplement to Annals, vol. iv., No. 1) the Lord Mayor’s return of “Strangers in London, anno 1568”— beginning with these words: — “As to the number of strangers as well within the city of London as in certain other liberties and exempt jurisdictions adjoining nigh unto the same, both of men, women, and children of every nation, as well denisons as not denisons, with their names, surnames, and occupations — and what Houses be pestered with greater 