The Chronicle of Queen Jane and of Two Years of Queen Mary, Especially of the Rebellion of Sir Thomas Wyat
p.2
‘On the 8. of July the lord maior of London was sent for to the court then at Greenwich, to bring with him sixe aldermen, as many merchants of the staple, and as many merchant adventurers, unto whom by the Councell was secretly dclared the death of King Edward, and also how hee did ordaine for the succession of the Crowne by his letters pattents, to the which they were sworne, and charged to keep it secret.’
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Original Letters Relative to the English Reformation
p.272-274
‘Yesterday, my faithful and very dear friend, the lord mayor, with some of the aldermen and merchants, citizens of London, were summoned to the king’s palace at Greenwich, on the banks of the river Thames, and about a German mile from the city. Whey they arrived there, in the presence of the king’s most honourable councillors, the lord treasurer, the president of the same council, addressed them to this effect, namely, that our very pious and holy king Edward VI. (who has now departed from this world)…bearing in mind that mighty, sovereign as he was, he was nevertheless subject to death, and the reather, because he had lately been weak and in bad health; studying too, not a little, that this English nation might be ruled and governed after his departure in tranquillity and peace; and condisering that both his sisters (of whom the elder, Mary, is ill-disposed to the pure doctrine of the gospel) have been, by certain statutes enacted by the authority of parliament during ther reign of his father, declared illegitimate, as born of an unlawful marriage; earntestly required his honourable councillors to agree among themselves, in case the Lord should take his majesty from them, to admit, and account for his lawful heir and successor, the son of the lady Frances, now duchess of Suffolk, (provided she have a son during the king-s life-time) who is the daughter of the lady Mary, the aunt of his majesty, and formerly queen of France; and afterwards the lady Jane, a truly learned and pious lady, who has this very year married the lord Guilford, youngest son of the duke of Northumberland, provided the said lady Frances have no lawful male issue during the life-time of king Edward.
He stated, moreover, that all the king’s honourable councillors, together with nearly all the chief nobility of the realm, had faithfully promised and bound themselves by oath and manual subscription to a writing to the same effect, that they would accomplish and effect this arrangement, conceived by the king’s majesty during his illness. Wherefore they desired the lord mayor and aldermen of London to be in like manner conformable, and to sign this document, which they readily did. So that, although Almighty God, in punishment of out heinous sins, has taken from us the most holy prince Edward our sovereign, concerning whom all persons who have ever known his majesty state, that they never saw a more excellent or godly mind in any mortal body; yet we are not altogether without his mercy, since he has now ordained such a successor to so pious a king, under whom we have such great hopes (for, praised be the Lord, we do not see anything to prevent it) that we, her subjects , shall nevertheless be able to love a godly, quiet, and tranquil life….’
Letter CXXV
Richard Hilles to Henry Bullinger
London July 9th 1553
