Westminster is the memorial of the one moment of English History when, in the preeminent grandeur of Wolsey, the See Under Wolsey, of York triumphed over the See of Canterbury. Wolsey, as 1523. Legate, convened his own Convocation of York to London;1 and in order to vindicate their rights from any jurisdiction of the southern Primate, and also that he might have them nearer to him at his Palace of Whitehall,2 they met, with the Canterbury Convocation, under his Legatine authority, in the neutral and independent ground of the Abbey of Westminster. It was in allusion to this transference, by the intervention of the great Cardinal, that Skelton sang: Gentle Paul, lay down thy sword, For Peter of Westminster hath shaved thy beard.3 A strong protest was made against the irregularity of the removal; but the convenience being once felt, and the charm once broken, the practice was continued after Wolsey's fall. Convocation, till the dissolution of the monastery, met at Westminster, usually in the ancient Chapter House, where the Abbot, on bended knees, protested (as the Deans, in a less reverent posture since) against the intrusion. It was that very submission to Wolsey's-as it was alleged-illegal authority as Legate, which laid the clergy open to the penalties of Præmunire, and thus by a singular chance, in the same Chapter House where they had placed themselves with- Chapter in this danger, they escaped from it by acknowledging the Royal Supremacy. On the occasion of the appointment of the thirty-two Commissioners to revise the Canon Law, it assembled first in St. Catherine's and then in St. Dunstan's July 7-10, Chapel. When both Convocations were called to sanction Act of Sub- mission, 1531, in the House. 1540. the dissolution of Henry's marriage with Anne of Cleves, they met in the Chapter House. Both Primates were present. Gardiner expounded the case, and the next day they 'publicly and unanimously, not one disagreeing,' declared it null. From that time onwards, the adjournment from St. Paul's to the Precincts of Westminster has gradually become fixed, but always on the understanding that the Convocation is obliged to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, and not to the 'Archbishop, for their convenient accommodation in that 'church.'' The history of the Convocations under the reigns of Edward and Mary is too slight to give us any certain clue to the place of their assembling. But after the accession of Elizabeth, we find that (in 1563) the Bishops met,2 in the Chapel of Henry VII., sometimes 'secretly,' Dean Goodman making the usual protest.3 The Lower House were placed either in a chapel on the south side of the Abbey, apparently the Consistory Court,' or in the Chapel In the of St. John and St. Andrew on the north," which came Chapels of St. John to be called the Convocation House:'6 'sitting amongst 'the tombs,' as on one occasion Fuller describes them, " as once one of their Prolocutors said of them, viva cadavera inter mortuos, as having no motion or activity allowed ' them.'" Of these meetings little beyond mere formal records are preserved. In them, however, were signed the Thirty-nine Articles.R Under Chapel. and St. Consistory Jan. 22- James I. 1603. The Convocation under James I, met partly at St. Paul's, and partly at Westminster. It would seem that its most important act-the assent to the Canons of 1603-was at St. Paul's.9 The first Convocation of whose proceedings we Narrative of Proceedings [1700, ? Gibson, pp. 150–167. A vestry. (Expedient, p. 11.) 5 Gibson, pp. 264, 265. A little 'chapel below stairs.' (Expedient, p. 11.) • Burial Register, Nov. 24, 1671. Fuller's Church History, A.D. 1621. Strype's Parker, i. 242, 243. 9 Wilkins, iv. 552–554. April 17 1640. have any detailed account is the unhappy assembly under Charles I., which, by its hasty and extravagant career, pre- Under cipitated the fall both of King and Clergy, and provoked Charles I., the fury of the populace against the Abbey itself. Both May 29, Houses met in Henry VII.'s Chapel on the first day of their assembling, and there heard a Latin speech from Laud of three-quarters of an hour, gravely uttered, his eyes oft-times 'being but one remove from weeping.' Then followed the questionable continuance of the Convocation after the close. of the Parliament; the short-lived Canons of 1640; the oath, 'which had its bowels puffed up with a windy et cetera;' the vain attempt, in these troublesome times,' on the part of a worthy Welshman to effect a new edition of the Welsh Bible; and finally the conflict between Laud and Godfrey Goodman, Bishop of Gloucester. Alone of all the dissentients he had the courage openly to refuse to sign the Canons. 'Whereupon the Archbishop being present with us in Henry 'VII.'s Chapel, was highly offended at him. "My Lord of "Gloucester," said he, "I admonish you to subscribe;" and presently after, "My Lord of Gloucester, I admonish 6.66 you the second time to subscribe;" and immediately after, "I admonish you the third time to subscribe." To all ' which the Bishop pleaded conscience, and returned a denial.' In spite of the remonstrance of Davenant, Bishop of Salisbury, he was committed to the Gatehouse, and for the first time became popular.2 Charles II. In the Abbey, after the Restoration, the Convocation met Under again, with the usual protest, from Dean Earles. Their 1661, first occupation was the preparation of the Office for the May 16. Baptism of Adults, and the Form of Thanksgiving for the 29th of May. On November 21 they reassembled, and en 1 Fuller's Church History, iii. 409. 2 Ibid. On Nov. 4 of the same year there was an endeavour, according to the Levitical laws, to cover the 'pit which they had opened.' But it Revision Prayer Nov. 23 27. tered on the grave task assigned to them by the King of revising the Prayer Book. In fact, it had already been accomplished by a committee of Bishops and others in the Great Hall of the Savoy Hospital, and therefore within a week the revision was in their hands, and within a month the whole was finished. A few days after the completion of the larger part, the Lower House was joined by the unusual accession of five deputies from the Northern Province, by whose vote, under the stringent obligation of forfeiting all their goods and chattels, the Lower House of the ConvocaDec. 5-15. tion of York bound itself to abide. The Calendar, the Dec. 20. In the Je salem Chamber. Feb. 22, 1661-2, Under and Mary. Nov. 20 Dec. 14, 1689. Prayers to be used at Sea, the Burial Service, and the Com- ment of Compton by the Chapter of Canterbury to fill the place of President, vacant by Sancroft's' suspension, the opening of Convocation took place at Westminster. A table was placed in the Chapel of Henry VII. Compton was in the chair. On his right and left sate, in their scarlet robes, those Bishops who had taken the oaths to William and Mary. Below the table were assembled the Clergy of the Lower House. Beveridge preached a Latin sermon, in which he warmly eulogized the existing system, and yet declared himself in favour of a moderate reform. The Lower House then proceeded to elect a Prolocutor, and, in the place of the temperate and consistent Tillotson, chose the fanatical and vacillating Jane. On his presentation to the President, he made his famous speech against all change, concluding with the well-known words- Dec. 4. taken from the colours of Compton's regiment of horseNolumus leges Angliæ mutari. It was on this occasion that the change of place for the Upper House, which had been only temporary in 1662, became permanent. 'It being in the midst of winter, and the Bishops being very few,'" they accepted of the kindness of the Bishop of Rochester (Dean Sprat) in accommodating them with a good room in 6 sion for Revision Nov. 18, 1689, 'his house, called the Jerusalem Chamber; and left the lower Commisclergy to sit in Henry VII.'s Chapel, and saved the trouble ' and charge of erecting seats where they used to meet.3 This change was probably further induced by the experience that some of the Bishops had already had of the Jerusalem Chamber, where they had sate in the Commission in the for revising the Liturgy for eighteen sessions and six weeks, beginning on October 3, and ending on November 18. The Commission consisted of ten prelates, six deans, and six professors. Amongst them were the distinguished names of Tillotson, Tenison, Burnet, Beveridge, Stillingfleet, Patrick, 1 Wilk. Conc. iv. 618. 2 Gibson, p. 225. Expedient proposed by a Country Jerusalem Chamber. |