1534.

the said feast stand firm, good, and effectual, and from thenceforth be put in due execution according to the tenor thereof; anything in this Act or in any the provisions aforesaid to the contrary hereof notwithstanding.

1534.

Prayer of Parliament to

LIV.

THE FIRST ACT OF SUCCESSION, A. D. 1534.

25 HENRY VIII, CAP. 22.

THIS Act was the last of the series (Nos. LI-LIV) of ecclesiastical enactments passed in the spring of 1534. No form of the oath herein mentioned was prescribed; but letters patent were issued containing a form and appointing a commission.

[Transcr. Statutes of the Realm, iii. 471.]

In their most humble wise shown unto your majesty your most humble and obedient subjects, the lords spiritual provide for and temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament succession assembled, that since it is the natural inclination of every

of the

crown.

The am

man, gladly and willingly to provide for the surety of both his title and succession, although it touch only his private. cause; we therefore, most rightful and dreadful sovereign lord, reckon ourselves much more bound to beseech and instant your highness (although we doubt not of your princely heart and wisdom, mixed with a natural affection to the same) to foresee and provide for the perfect surety of both you, and of your most lawful succession and heirs, upon which dependeth all our joy and wealth, in whom also is united and knit the only mere true inheritance and title of this realm, without any contradiction;

Wherefore we your said most humble and obedient subbiguity of jects, in this present Parliament assembled, calling to our remembrance the great divisions which in times past have

the several

titles to

1534.

and the

succession

trouble.

4.

been in this realm, by reason of several titles pretended to the imperial crown of the same, which sometimes, and for the crown, the most part ensued, by occasion of ambiguity and doubts, not estabthen not so perfectly declared, but that men might, upon lishing the froward intents, expound them to every man's sinister to it, a appetite and affection, after their sense, contrary to the cause of right legality of the succession and posterity of the lawful kings and emperors of this realm; whereof hath ensued. great effusion and destruction of man's blood, as well of a great number of the nobles, as of other the subjects, and especially inheritors in the same; and the greatest occasion thereof hath been because no perfect and substantial provision by law hath been made within this realm of itself, when doubts and questions have been moved and proponed, of the certainty and legality of the succession and posterity of the crown; by reason whereof the Bishop of Rome, and see apostolic, contrary to the great and inviolable grants of jurisdictions given by God immediately to emperors, kings and princes, in succession to their heirs, has presumed, in times past, to invest who should please them, to inherit in other men's kingdoms and dominions, which thing we, your most humble subjects, both spiritual and temporal, do most abhor and detest; and sometimes other foreign princes and potentates of sundry degrees, minding rather dissension and discord to continue in the realm, to the utter desolation thereof, than charity, equity, or unity, have many times supported wrong titles, whereby they might the more easily and facilely aspire to the superiority of the same; the continuance and sufferance whereof deeply considered and pondered, were too dangerous and perilous to be suf fered any longer within this realm, and too much contrary to the unity, peace, and tranquility of the same, being greatly reproachable and dishonourable to the whole realm: In consideration whereof your said most humble and obedient subjects, the nobles and Commons of this realm, that

Conse

wenty

proposed

1534.

the marriage between

and Kathe

rine of Aragon

be void, and the

calling further to their remembrance that the good unity, peace and wealth of this realm, and the succession of the subjects of the same, most especially and principally above all worldly things consists and rests in the certainty and surety of the procreation and posterity of your highness, in whose most royal person, at this present time, is no manner of doubt nor question; do therefore most humbly beseech your highness, that it may please your majesty, that it may be enacted by your highness, with the assent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and the Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that the marriage heretofore solemnized between your the king highness and the Lady Katherine, being before lawful wife to Prince Arthur, your elder brother, which by him was carnally known, as does duly appear by sufficient proof in a lawful process had and made before Thomas, by the separation sufferance of God, now archbishop of Canterbury and good. metropolitan and primate of all this realm, shall be, by authority of this present Parliament, definitively, clearly, and absolutely declared, deemed, and adjudged to be against the laws of Almighty God, and also accepted, reputed, and taken of no value nor effect, but utterly void and annulled, and the separation thereof, made by the said archbishop, shall be good and effectual to all intents and purposes; any licence, dispensation, or any other act or acts going afore, or ensuing the same, or to the contrary thereof, in any wise notwithstanding; and that every such licence, dispensation, act or acts, thing or things heretofore had, made, done, or to be done to the contrary thereof, shall be void and of none effect; and that the said Lady Katherine shall be from henceforth called and reputed only dowager to Prince Arthur, and not queen of this realm; and that the lawful matrimony had and solemnized between your highness and your most dear and entirely beloved wife Queen Anne, shall be established, and taken for undoubtful, true, sincere, and

She shall

bé called dowager to Prince Arthur, and not queen.

1534.

perfect ever hereafter, according to the just judgment of the said Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury, metropolitan and primate of all this realm, whose grounds of judgment have been confirmed, as well by the whole clergy of this realm in both the Convocations, and by both the universities thereof, as by the universities of Bologna, Padua, Paris, Orleans, Toulouse, Anjou, and divers others, and also by the private writings of many right excellent well-learned men; which grounds so confirmed, and judgment of the The marsaid archbishop ensuing the same, together with your mar- riage with riage solemnized between your highness and your said Boleyn lawful wife Queen Anne, we your said subjects, both spiritual sha and temporal, do purely, plainly, constantly, and firmly good and accept, approve, and ratify for good and consonant to the consonant laws of Almighty God, without error or default, most law. humbly beseeching your majesty, that it may be so established for ever by your most gracious and royal assent.

Anne

shall be

taken as

to God's

mischiefs

And furthermore, since many inconveniences have fallen, Recital of as well within this realm as in others, by reason of marry- that have ing within degrees of marriage prohibited by God's laws, arisen by that is to say, the son to marry the mother, or the step- within the marriage mother, the brother the sister, the father his son's daughter, prohibited degrees. or his daughter's daughter, or the son to marry the daughter of his father procreate and born by his stepmother, or the son to marry his aunt, being his father's or mother's sister, or to marry his uncle's wife, or the father to marry his son's wife, or the brother to marry his brother's wife, or any man to marry his wife's daughter, or his wife's son's daughter, or his wife's daughter's daughter, or his wife's sister; which marriages, although they be plainly prohibited and detested. by the laws of God, yet nevertheless at some times they have proceeded under colours of dispensations by man's power, which is but usurped, and of right ought not to be granted, admitted, nor allowed; for no man, of what estate, degree, Man has or condition soever he be, has power to dispense with no power

to dis

1534. God's laws, as all the clergy of this realm in the said Convocations, and the most part of all the famous universities pense with God's law. of Christendom, and we also, do affirm and think.

forbidden

Marriages Be it therefore enacted by authority aforesaid, that no within the person or persons, subjects or residents of this realm, or prohibited in any your dominions, of what estate, degree, or dignity degrees. soever they be, shall from henceforth marry within the said degrees afore rehearsed, what pretence soever shall be made to the contrary thereof.

The annulling of such marriages

by the

dren born

And in case any person or persons, of what estate, dignity, degree, or condition soever they be, has been heretofore married within this realm, or in any the king's dominions, Church of within any the degrees above expressed, and by any the England held good, archbishops, bishops, or ministers of the Church of England, and chil- be separated from the bonds of such unlawful marriage, that every such separation shall be good, lawful, firm, and marriages permanent for ever, and not by any power, authority, or means to be revoked or undone hereafter, and that the children proceeding and procreated under such unlawful marriage, shall not be lawful nor legitimate; any foreign laws, licences, dispensations, or other thing or things to the contrary thereof notwithstanding.

of such

are illegiti

mate.

Persons

married

degrees

And in case there be any person or persons within this heretofore realm, or in any the king's dominions, already married within the within any the said degrees above specified, and not yet separated from the bonds of such unlawful marriage, that then every such person so unlawfully married shall be separated separate by the definitive sentence and judgments of the by the ordinary's archbishops, bishops, and other ministers of the Church of sentence. England, and in other your dominions, within the limits of

aforesaid shall be

their jurisdictions and authorities, and by none other power or authority; and that all sentences and judgments given and to be given by any archbishop, bishop, or other minister of the Church of England, or in other the king's dominions, within the limits of their jurisdictions and authorities, shall