Note 527 — Chapter XVII
Reading edition
A paper of ten interrogatories is in the Rolls House, written in Cromwell’s hand, addressed to a Mr. John More. More’s opinion was required on the supremacy, and among the questions asked him were these:—
What communication hath been between you and the Bishop of Winchester touching the primacy of the Bishop of Rome?
What answers the said Bishop made unto you upon such questions as ye did put to him?
Whether ye have heard the said Bishop at any time in any evil opinion contrary to the statutes of the realm, concerning the primacy of the Bishop of Rome or any other foreign potentate?—Rolls House MS. A 2, 30, fol. 67.
In another collection I found a paper of Mr. More’s answers; but it would seem (unless the MS. is imperfect) that he replied only to the questions which affected himself. The following passage, however, is curious: “The cause why I demanded the questions (on the primacy) of my Lord of Winchester was for that I heard it, as I am now well remembered, much spoken of in the parliament house, and taken among many there to be a doubt as ye, Mr. Secretary, well know. And for so much as I esteemed my lord’s wisdom and learning to be such, that I thought I would not be better answered, because I heard you, Mr. Secretary, say he was much affectionate to the Papacy.”—Rolls House MS. first series, 863.