_A Plan for the Reformation of Ireland_, drawn up
in 1515, contains the following curious passage: "The prophecy is, that the
King of England shall put this land of Ireland into such order that the
wars of the land, whereof groweth the vices of the same, shall cease for
ever; and after that God shall give such grace and fortune to the same king
that he shall with the army of England and of Ireland subdue the realm of
France to his obeysance for ever, and shall rescue the Greeks, and recover
the great city of Constantinople, and shall vanquish the Turks and win the
Holy Cross and the Holy Land, and shall die Emperor of Rome, and eternal
blisse shall be his end."--_State Papers_, vol. ii. pp. 30, 31.
[132] Knight to Henry: _State Papers_, vol. vii. pp. 2, 3.
[133] Wolsey to Cassalis: Ibid. p. 26.
[134] The dispensing power of the popes was not formally limited. According
to the Roman lawyers, a faculty lay with them of granting extraordinary
dispensations in cases where dispensations would not be usually
admissible--which faculty was to be used, however, dummodo causa cogat
urgentissima ne regnum aliquod funditus pereat; the pope's business being
to decide on the question of urgency.--Sir Gregory Cassalis to Henry VIII.,
Dec. 26, 1532. _Rolls House MS._
[135] Knight and Cassalis to Wolsey: BURNET'S _Collect._ p. 12.
[136] STRYPE'S _Memorials_, vol. i., Appendix p. 66.
[137] Sir F. Bryan and Peter Vannes to Henry; _State Papers_, vol. vii.
Pages:
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662