Chapter I: Front Matter

Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.

AT THE

"SIGN OF THE GOLDEN

FLEECE"

A Story of Reformation Days

BY
EMMA LESLIE,

Author of "Elsie's Scholarship,"
"For France and Freedom," &c.

London
GALL AND INGLIS, 25 PATERNOSTER SQUARE;
AND EDINBURGH.

PRINTED
AND BOUND BY
GALL AND INGLIS
LUTTON PLACE
EDINBURGH

Contents.

CHAP.

I. OXFORD FAIR

II. AT PATON HALL

III. FATHER AND SON

IV. FALLEN AMONG THIEVES

V. A LUCKY ESCAPE

VI. A CHANGE FOR MILES

VII. THE GREAT CARDINAL

VIII. LADY AUDREY

IX. THE MEETING WITH TYNDALE

X. AT THE CHURCH OF ST. DUNSTAN'S

XI. SIR THOMAS PATON

XII. DID HE LOVE HER?

XIII. CICELY GUILDFORD

XIV. AT THE PALACE OF PLACENTIA

XV. MILES TO THE RESCUE

XVI. BAFFLED

XVII. TOWN AND GOWN

XVIII. A VERY SECRET MARRIAGE

XIX. A DEPUTATION TO SIR MILES

XX. NOT READY FOR UTOPIA

XXI. AT OXFORD FAIR ONCE MORE

XXII. A PRECIOUS CARGO

XXIII. AFTER MANY DAYS

XXIV. AT GREENWICH

XXV. AT "THE SIGN OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE" ONCE MORE

XXVI. THE MAY-DAY SPORTS

XXVII. THE PRIOR OF ST. MARGARET'S

XXVIII. CONCLUSION

List of Illustrations.

"Master Clark hath chosen an over-bold messenger," said Wolsey.

As he spoke, the monk watched Miles closely.

"Madam, one of your novices has not taken her place with the rest," said Master Baldock.

"Is it—is it Sir Miles Paton at last!" exclaimed Master Monmouth.

Preface.

THE chief concern of this story is with the beginnings of our English Testament. The Latin Vulgate was the only version of the Scriptures known in Europe until the early part of the sixteenth century.

The sack of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, and the break-up of the old Greek Empire, had driven many learned Greeks to take refuge in Italy, where they became teachers, not merely of their own language, but of the subjects that had long been taught in the schools and colleges of Constantinople.

But the key to these various branches of knowledge lay in the Greek tongue, and this gradually became known at the different universities of Europe, through those who learned it in Italy, and thus it became the insignia of the new learning.

Among those who studied under the Greek masters in Italy was Erasmus, a young Dutchman, who had been so disgusted with what he was compelled to see and hear among the drunken, brutal monks, his companions in the monastery where he was a novice, that he was glad to leave and become secretary to the Bishop of Cambray. He had already distinguished himself as a Latin scholar but the Greek tongue opened a new world of learning, which he was not slow to conquer.

He became a tutor at the University of Paris, and had several English pupils, through whose influence he came to Oxford, where he met another famous Greek scholar, Grocyn, who was most anxious that the new language and learning should be extended in England.

A little later Erasmus became a lecturer on Greek at Cambridge, while at the same time he laboured industriously at the work of translating the ancient Greek authors into modern Greek or Latin.

At last he gave the world the New Testament in Greek and Latin, that men might judge for themselves in the matter of priestly pretensions founded on the Vulgate. It was essentially a book for the learned, but prepared the way for that which was to follow—the English New Testament.

Going back to the original fount of knowledge, it soon became apparent to the seekers after truth in this direction, that the Latin Vulgate had been adapted to give authority to the corrupt doctrines of the Romish Church, and so this Greek New Testament everywhere created a ferment in men's minds, for while some saw in it the light of God's truth revealed to men, others saw only a danger to the Church and the established order of things in general. These defenders of the old order chose to call themselves "Trojans" in Oxford, as opposed to the "Greeks," or followers of the new language and learning.

It is curious to note that the Vulgate itself had its origin in a desire for reform, similar to that which prompted Erasmus to translate the New Testament direct from the Greek language. In the year 385, Jerome commenced the translation of the Scriptures from the Hebrew into the Latin tongue, because he found that the Itala, or version in general use, contained so many inaccuracies when compared with the original MSS. The new translation, however, was not received by the Church with any degree of thankfulness, and even St. Augustine himself viewed it with suspicion, and was inclined to join in the cry of heresy taken up against Jerome; and it was not until two hundred years had elapsed, that it became the recognised version of the Christian Church, for many still clung to the old Itala version which it had superseded.

It can be easily understood that copyists of Jerome's version, who still preferred the meaning given in the Itala, could introduce some of these renderings from time to time, so that at last it was deemed advisable about the eleventh century to have this translation of Jerome's revised, owing to these and other causes.

This new revision was undertaken by the Archbishops and Cardinals, but by the time our story begins, whatever its original purity may have been, it was so manipulated by its copyists as to give authority to every corrupt doctrine and belief in the Church of Rome; and these were all intended to give power to the priests and monks, to hold men's minds and consciences in bondage. It was carefully instilled into the people that the Scriptures was a dangerous book in the hands of the laity, or common people, and therefore must only be read with an approved commentary, written by a priest, or received from the mouths of the clergy with such comments and explanations as they might deem necessary to impart.

This being the condition of things in England, and all over the Continent of Europe at the dawn of the Reformation, it can be easily understood what a stir was created by the new translation of Erasmus, while the publication of the Scriptures in English would arouse alike the fear and hatred of bishops, priests, and monks, to say nothing of those whose trade or interests were also threatened by the reform of old abuses and corrupt practices. By the introduction of a simpler mode of worship, and the abolition of Masses for the dead, which was such a fruitful source of gain, not merely to the clergy themselves, but to the various trades who profited by supplying candles and trappings. These were deemed necessary to purge away the sins of the departed, and by this means widows and orphans were often reduced to poverty, if they were rich, and to absolute starvation if they were poor, through the cruel perversion of their love for the dear one, imposed upon them by the Church of Rome and her clergy.

If my readers will bear these facts in mind, they will understand how great an event in our history as a nation was the translation of the Scriptures by Tyndale into the English language.

AT THE
SIGN OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE.