LETTERS RELATING TO THE SUPPRESSION OF MONASTERIES. EDITED FROM THE ORIGINALS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM BY THOMAS WRIGHT, ESQ. M.A. F.S.A. &c. CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF FRANCE, PRINTED FOR THE CAMDEN SOCIETY, BY JOHN BOWYER NICHOLS AND SON, PARLIAMENT STREET. 1843. COUNCIL OF THE CAMDEN SOCIETY, FOR THE YEAR 1843-4. President, THE RIGHT HON. LORD BRAYBROOKE, F.S.A. THOMAS AMYOT, ESQ. F.R.S. Treas. S.A. Director. JOHN BRUCE, ESQ. F.S.A. Treasurer. JOHN PAYNE COLLIER, ESQ. F.S.A. C. PURTON COOPER, ESQ. Q.C., D.C.L., F.R.S., F.S.A. T. CROFTON CROKER, ESQ. F.S.A., M.R.I.A. SIR HENRY ELLIS, K.H., F.R.S., Sec. S.A. THE REV. JOSEPH HUNTER, F.S.A. SIR FREDERICK MADDEN, K.H., F.R.S., F.S.A. THE REV. LANCELOT SHARPE, M.A., F.S.A. THOMAS STAPLETON, ESQ. F.S.A. WILLIAM J. THOMS, ESQ. F.S.A., Secretary. ALBERT WAY, ESQ. M.A. DIR. S.A. THOMAS WRIGHT, ESQ. M.A., F.S.A. PREFA CСЕ. By much the greater portion of the following letters has been printed from a volume in the Cottonian Library in the British Museum, (MS. Cotton. Cleopatra, E. iv.) composed of letters and documents, which appear to me to have been selected at some early period from the Cromwell papers, so long preserved in the Chapter House at Westminster, and now lodged partly in the Record Office at the Rolls House, and partly in the State Paper Office. I have added to these a few documents taken from other collections in our national repository, and more especially from the Scudamore Papers, lately added to the treasures of the British Museum. I leave these letters to tell their own story. They throw light on the history of a great event, which changed entirely the face of society in our island, an event which I regard as the greatest blessing conferred by Providence upon this country since the first introduction of the Christian religion. I will not at present enter into the history of this revolution, but leave the documents for others to comment upon. I have suppressed nothing, for I believe that they contain nothing which is untrue; |