sent from

by lord

Cromwel

and others

in the

behalf of

Henry to see that with speed they should be delivered. Then such of the chief of the merchants as were there at that time, being called together, A.D. required the said Pointz to take in hand the delivery of those letters, 1536. with letters also from them, in favour of Master Tyndale, to the lord Letters of Barrois and others; which lord of Barrois (as it was told Pointz England by the way) at that time was departed from Brussels, as the chief conductor of the eldest daughter of the king of Denmark, to be married to the palsgrave, whose mother was sister to the emperor, she being chief princess of Denmark. Pointz, after he heard of his Tyndale, departure, did ride after the next way, and overtook him at Achon, where he delivered to him his letters; which when he had received and read, he made no direct answer, but somewhat objecting, said, There were of their countrymen that were burned in England not long before (as indeed there were Anabaptists burned in Smithfield); and so Pointz said to him, "Howbeit," said he, "whatsoever the crime was, if his lordship or any other nobleman had written, requiring to have had them, he thought they should not have been denied." Well," said he, "I have no leisure to write, for the princess is ready to ride." Then said Pointz, "If it shall please your fordship, I will attend upon you unto the next baiting-place;" which was at Maestricht. If you so do," said the lord, "I will advise myself by the way what to write." So Pointz followed him from Achon to Maestricht, which are fifteen English miles asunder; and there he received letters of him, one to the council there, another to the company of the merchant-adventurers, and another also to the lord Cromwell in England.

Letters

from the lord of Barrois.

Pointz

sent with letters from

66

66

So Pointz rode from thence to Brussels, and then and there delivered to the council the letters out of England, with the lord of Barrois's letters also, and received eftsoons answer into England of to Eng the same by letters which he brought to Antwerp to the English

Brussels

land.

of Philips

Tyndale.

merchants, who required him to go with them into England. And he, very desirous to have Master Tyndale out of prison, let not to take pains, with loss of time in his own business and occupying, and diligently followed with the said letters, which he there delivered to the council, and was commanded by them to tarry until he had other letters, with which he was not dispatched thence in a month after. At length, the letters being delivered him, he returned again, and delivered them to the emperor's council at Brussels, and there tarried for answer of the same.

When the said Pointz had tarried three or four days, it was told him by one that belonged to the Chancery, that Master Tyndale should have been delivered to him according to the tenor of the The suit letters; but Philips, being there, followed the suit against Master against Tyndale, and hearing that he should be delivered to Pointz, and doubting lest he should be put from his purpose, he knew no other remedy but to accuse Pointz, saying, that he was a dweller in the town of Antwerp, and there had been a succourer of Tyndale, and was one of the same opinion; and that all this was only his own labour and suit, to have Master Tyndale at liberty, and no man's else. Thus, upon his information and accusation, Pointz was attached by by Phi- the procuror-general, the emperor's attorney, and delivered to the keeping of two serjeants at arms; and the same evening was sent to him one

Pointz attached

lips.

VIII.

1536.

exami

of the chancery, with the procuror-general, who ministered unto him Henry an oath, that he should truly make answer to all such things as should be inquired of him, thinking they would have had no other examina- A.D. tions of him but of his message. The next day likewise they came again, and had him in examination, and so five or six days one after Pointz another, upon not so few as a hundred articles, as well of the king's ned. affairs, as of the message concerning Tyndale, of his aiders, and of his religion; out of which examinations, the procuror-general drew twenty-three or twenty-four articles, and declared the same against the said Pointz, the copy whereof he delivered to him to make answer thereunto, and permitted him to have an advocate and proctor, that is, a doctor and proctor in the law; and order was taken, that eight days after he should deliver unto them his answer, and from eight days to eight days, to proceed till the process were ended. Also that he should send no messenger to Antwerp where his house was, being twenty-four English miles from Brussels, where he was prisoner, nor to any other place, but by the post of the town of Brussels; nor to send any letters, nor any to be delivered to him, but written in Dutch; and the procuror-general, who was party against him, to read them, to peruse and examine them thoroughly (contrary to all right and equity), before they were sent or delivered: neither might any be suffered to speak or talk with Pointz in any other tongue or language, except only in the Dutch tongue; so that his keepers, who were Dutchmen, might understand what the contents of the letters or talk should be saving that at one certain time the provincial of the White Friars came to dinner where Pointz was prisoner, and brought with him a young novice, being an Englishman, whom the provincial, after dinner, of his own accord, did bid to talk with the said Pointz; and so with him he was licensed to talk. The purpose and great policy therein was easy to be perceived. Between Pointz and the novice Talk bewas much pretty talk, as of sir Thomas More, and of the bishop of Pointz Rochester, and of their putting to death; whose death he seemed and a greatly to lament, especially dying in such a quarrel, worthy (as he said) to be accounted for martyrs; with other noble doctrine, and deep learning in divinity, meet to feed swine withal: such blindness then in those days reigned amongst them.

*The eighth day, the commissioners that were appointed came to the house where Pointz was kept, to have had his answer in writing: he, making no great haste in proceeding, answereth them with a dilatory manner, saying, he was there a prisoner, and might not go abroad, so that, although he had appointed and named who were to be a council with him, they came not to him, nor could he go to them; nor could any come to give counsel in this matter, but such as were licensed and named by them. Then they gave him a day, to make answer against the next eighth day. And Pointz drew out his own mind, answering to the whole declaration generally; which, at the next coming, he delivered them: but that answer they would not take, saying, he must answer to every article particularly; and so they took order, that he should make it ready against the next coming. Thus he trifled them off, from Allhallow-tide until Christ

(1) The history, being more fully given in the first edition, is here substituted for a short passage in recent editions.-ED.

tween

novice.

1536.

66

Henry mas-even, with dilatory matters, from one eighth day to another eighth VIII. day. And upon Christmas even, in the morning, they came to him A. D. to have had an answer, which was not made, nor had any counsel come to him in all that time: howbeit, they would delay the time no longer, but said they, “ Bring in your answer this day, or else ye shall be put from it ;" so he perceived, that if it were not brought in that night, he should have been condemned without answer. So then, with much ado, he got the advocate to help him in ordering of his answer; but it was long ere he came, so that it was past eight o'clock of Christmas-even before his answers were delivered to the procurorgeneral. And then afterwards, as the time served, at the days appointed, it went forth with replication duplic, with other answers each to other, in writing what they could, in answering to the emperor's ordinances. And at such times as the commissioners came to Pointz, that traitor Philips accompanied them to the door, in following the process against him, as he also did against Master Tyndale, as they who had Pointz in keeping showed him.

The process being ended, as the order is there, either party delivered up to the commissioners a bag, with his process in writing, and took an inventory of every parcel of writing that was within the bag. So it rested in their hands; but, upon sentence, Pointz required, in the time of process, that he might put in surety, and so to be at liberty. This they granted him at the first time, but, afterwards, they denied to take surety for his body. Then he sent a post from the town of Brussels to Antwerp to the English merchants, thinking they would not let him have stuck for lack of their help, in putting in sureties for him, considering the cause, with the circumstance, especially since they brought him into this trouble themselves; although it does not appear that they made him any promise for his charges and pains + taken, as Pointz reported of them they really did.

But, to pass over this, and to make the matter short: if the aforesaid merchants, such as were of the town of Antwerp, had, at the time, been surety for him, then the matter had been altered from a criminal to a civil case; but when Pointz had delivered to them his answer, they demanded of him, for his charges, money, or sureties. The charges were much, to reckon for the two officers' meat, and drink, and wages, beside his own charges; so that it was about five shillings every day. For all the while he was prisoner, he was not in a common prison, but in the keeping of two officers in one of their houses. So they demanded sureties to be brought within eight days. for the charges, but then they denied him to take surety for his body, to make answer at liberty. Pointz, considering that they altered in their purposes, as well in other things as in that; and perceiving, by other things (as also it was told in secret), that it would have cost him his life if he had tarried, yet Pointz granted them to put in sureties, requiring of them to have a messenger to send; not because he reckoned to have any, but to make a delay, otherwise they would have sent him to a stronger prison. But Pointz delayed them, thinking, if he could, to make escape; yet he did make a good face, as though he reckoned to have been in no danger; which if he had not done, it was very unlikely he should have escaped with his life out of their hands. And at the eighth day the commissioners came