A Child's History of England.145

Posted 2022-01-16 _

Cranmer had done what he could to save some of the Church property for purposes of religion and education; but, the great families had been so hungry to get hold of it, that very little could be rescued for such objects. Even Miles Coverdale, who did the people the inestimable service of translating the Bible into English (which the unreformed religion never permitted to be done), was left in poverty while the great families clutched the Church lands and money. The people had been told that when the Crown came into possession of these funds, it would not be necessary to tax them; but they were taxed afresh directly afterwards. It was fortunate for them, indeed, that so many nobles were so greedy for this wealth; since, if it had remained with the Crown, there might have been no end to tyranny for hundreds of years. One of the most active writers on the Church\'s side against the King was a member of his own family - a sort of distant cousin, Reginald Pole by name - who attacked him in the most violent manner (though he received a pension from him all the time), and fought for the Church with his pen, day and night. As he was beyond the King\'s reach - being in Italy - the King politely invited him over to discuss the subject; but he, knowing better than to come, and wisely staying where he was, the King\'s rage fell upon his brother Lord Montague, the Marquis of Exeter, and some other gentlemen: who were tried for high treason in corresponding with him and aiding him - which they probably did - and were all executed. The Pope made Reginald Pole a cardinal; but, so much against his will, that it is thought he even aspired [有野心] in his own mind to the vacant throne of England, and had hopes of marrying the Princess Mary. His being made a high priest, however, put an end to all that. His mother, the venerable Countess of Salisbury - who was, unfortunately for herself, within the tyrant\'s reach - was the last of his relatives on whom his wrath [怒火] fell. When she was told to lay her grey head upon the block, she answered the executioner, \'No! My head never committed treason, and if you want it, you shall seize it.\' So, she ran round and round the scaffold [断头台] with the executioner striking at her, and her grey hair bedabbled [dabble:splash] with blood; and even when they held her down upon the block she moved her head about to the last, resolved to be no party to her own barbarous murder. All this the people bore, as they had borne everything else.

Pope让Reginald当红衣主教这事very much against Reginald的意愿，why? it is thought... 他被猜.... 他最终被高级牧师put an end to前述猜测。

Indeed they bore much more; for the slow fires of Smithfield were continually burning, and people were constantly being roasted to death - still to show what a good Christian the King was. He defied the Pope and his Bull [an official statement from the Pope], which was now issued, and had come into England; but he burned innumerable people whose only offence was that they differed from the Pope\'s religious opinions. There was a wretched [悲惨的] man named Lambert, among others, who was tried for this before the King, and with whom six bishops argued one after another. When he was quite exhausted (as well he might be, after six bishops), he threw himself on the King\'s mercy; but the King blustered [speak in a loud angry way that is not really very impressive] out that he had no mercy for heretics. So, he too fed the fire.

All this the people bore, and more than all this yet. The national spirit seems to have been banished from the kingdom at this time. The very people who were executed for treason, the very wives and friends of the \'bluff\' King, spoke of him on the scaffold as a good prince, and a gentle prince - just as serfs [农奴] in similar circumstances have been known to do, under the Sultan [苏丹] and Bashaws [帕夏] of the East, or under the fierce old tyrants of Russia, who poured boiling and freezing water on them alternately, until they died. The Parliament were as bad as the rest, and gave the King whatever he wanted; among other vile [evil/immoral] accommodations [compromise], they gave him new powers of murdering, at his will and pleasure, any one whom he might choose to call a traitor. But the worst measure [措施] they passed was an Act of Six Articles, commonly called at the time \'the whip with six strings;\' which punished offences against the Pope\'s opinions, without mercy, and enforced the very worst parts of the monkish religion. Cranmer would have modified it, if he could; but, being overborne [overpowered] by the Romish [of Roman Catholic] party, had not the power. As one of the articles declared that priests should not marry, and as he was married himself, he sent his wife and children into Germany, and began to tremble at his danger; none the less [despite that] because he was, and had long been, the King\'s friend. This whip of six strings was made under the King\'s own eye. It should never be forgotten of him how cruelly he supported the worst of the Popish doctrines [教义] when there was nothing to be got by opposing them. 百度翻译: "永远不应该忘记他是多么残酷地支持最恶劣的教皇教义当反对他们没有什么好处的时候。" 似乎狄大人的意思是Cranmer也不是好人。

Thomas Cranmer: the Yes-Man who said No | History Today

Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build the case for the annulment of Henry\'s marriage to Catherine of Aragon [阿拉贡], which was one of the causes of the separation of the English Church from union with the Holy See. Along with Thomas Cromwell... 俩托马斯。

popish: an offensive word for sth that is related to the Roman Catholic religion

六级/考研单词: educate, rescue, translate, bible, clutch, necessity, noble, greed, wise, rage, correspond, probable, execute, cardinal, aspire, vacancy, throne, princess, priest, gray, commit, resolve, bore, perpetual, roast, defy, bull, issue, innumerable, offend, differ, secular, wretched, bishop, exhaust, mercy, loud, nationwide, bluff, fierce, freeze, alternate, parliament, whip, punish, enforce, modify, tremble, doctrine, march, reform, reign, holy, catholic